Forgive Me (Arc3) - Remade
by ReviewR524
Summary: Revised ver of the Original [Forgive Me] / - / What if Subaru tries to fight the whale and the cult without Rem? Is it a good Idea? Would he fall down in despair before he even stands up? A Re-writting of Re-Zero's Arc3 pradicament.
1. Chapter 1: When you break

_**Upload Date: 2/3/2018  
Forgive Me [Arc3] ~ Remake**_

 **Chapter 1: When you break**

It was early in the morning, the suns rays were weak as they descend to the stone pathway. This place wasn't a place you would be familiar with, in fact, this is a whole different world. The pathway stretched towards an old ruin.

Two people ran across the streets, one was trying to catch the other as he ran away. They ran and ran until they had reached atop an old ruin.

The boy was panting as he tried to catch his breath, his face was filled with remorse, guilt, anger, fear, sadness, and many more complex emotion.

The girl behind him just looked at him worriedly and confused, she was much less tired, it seems.

"S-Subar-"  
" **ARGHH!** I can't take it anymore!"

The girl tried to call out to him but he screamed out frustratedly, making her jump back.

"Rem... I'm leaving..." he said.

This boy, he came from another world, a world unknown to anyone here. With his arrival in this world, he was given a power, a power that allows him to Return by death. His name was Natsuki Subaru.

"Subaru-kun?"

The other person called out, her voice was sweet and had a worrying tone, slightly confused at what he had said. This girl was wearing a maids outfit, she had short light blue hair that concealed her right eye. Her name was Rem, she was a maid of the Roswaal Mansion, she also happens to be an oni.

"I said I'm leaving!"

Subaru repeated his words but in a more serious tone.

"But... why?" Rem asked, confused about what he meant.

She then lets out a gasp. "D-Did Rem upset Subaru-kun in someway! Subaru-kun? Please, tell Rem if she did something wrong, Rem will make it up to you, Rem will do anything!"

Hearing her words of apology he stood up shaking his head, he still faced away from her, whenever he saw her, memories of the past loop haunted him, Rem's dead body laying on the ground.

"Its all my fault..." He muttered out almost inaudibly. "Its all because of me, because I couldn't god damn do anything!"

"Subaru-kun... Rem doesn't understand, Subaru-kun hasn't done anything wrong!"

Just hearing her voice, it struck his heart with uncomfortable pain, it was soothing yet it stung sharply. He just wanted it all to end, but he couldn't stop it from happening.

"All the bad things that happened, Its all my fault, I know it is... So... if I leave the rest of you can be safe"

 _The White Whale it attacked us because it was attracted to me, the witch cultist, they attacked us because I had the witch's scent. The puppy in the village, it probably came because of my sudden appearance. All of it, it was because of me... It's all my fault._

"No... Subaru-kun, please don't" Still not understanding what he was trying to say, she denies his wish to let it all go.

"I have to, there's no other choice."  
"There has to be, please don't leave... please don't leave Rem."

He had one plan in mind, but that would be risking too much, he could go to the mansion now and evacuate everyone, but that would mean risking Rem's life, it was something he absolutely couldn't do.

"I don't want to see anyone else suffer because of my powerlessness..."

"Then let Rem help!" She stubbornly refuses to let him go. "No!" he suddenly raised his voice and glares at her.

"B-But Rem... has to go with you"  
"There's no point in you following me, you have your sister back at the mansion, I'm just a nuisance..."

The thought of Rem running away with him surfaced his mind for a while, but he couldn't possibly bring himself let it happen, with his ever-increasing scent, danger would be looming on every corner and knowing how Rem is, she would go to extreme lengths to keep any and all danger away, even if it meant death.

"I don't plan on coming back anytime soon, so you won't be able to see Ram so just stay... but why?"

"Subaru-kun?"  
"Why the hell do you want to come with me? With a bag of trash... I've just been a burden to you, to Ram, to Emilia."  
"No, you have-"

"Yes, I have! You never needed me in the mansion, all I did was distract you and Ram from your work"  
"But..."  
"Because of me, Emilia was humiliated during the meeting for the Royal Selection!"

"Subaru-kun..."

"I got into a fight with the god damn Knight of Knights, and got beaten mercilessly, it's miserable! Do you know how bad that made Emilia look? After I ranted about being her 'Knight'!? I'm hopeless, disgusting, shame-filled!"

He went back at the thought of the massacred village, and it filled him with despair.

"So why? Why do you want to follow me, TELL ME WHY!?"

.

.

.

 **"Just god damn tell me!"**

.

.

.

.

 **"Is it because Roswaal told you to!"**

.

.

.

"It is, isn't it..."

.

.

.

"No... that's not why"  
"Then why?!"

"Its... because... Rem cannot bear the thought of Subaru-kun in danger... if Subaru-kun goes alone, he will surely perish, Rem doesn't want that"

He let out a sigh, "That's the point... I'm leaving so everything comes to me instead of you, the witch's scent is a curse and I'm gonna use it to my advantage..." Subaru refuses her reason and begins to walk away, slowly.

"No... Subaru-kun..." she starts to follow him, but he abruptly stops and faces her again.

"Just go back, Emilia doesn't need me, no one needs me, I cant do anything, I'll only cause problems, make sure to tell Emilia I'm sorry for the ruckus"

"But... what about Rem, Rem needs you!"

He stops, but without turning he says "No, you don't." Hearing his sharp words she was left speechless, what he said, it was like a rock was hurled towards her and struck her chest.

Seeing that he was slowly starting to walk away again, she stuttered, "Y-Yes, I do!"

"Why, so you and Nee-sama won't have to do as much work! Give me a break..."  
"No...! Rem needs you because..."

.

.

.

 **"BECAUSE REM LOVES YOU"**

"..."

He had already predicted what she wanted to say, even so, he was left speechless, not because of the statement, in particular, it was the memory that clouded his mind.

 _'Live... I... love... you...'_

Those were the words she said as she clung loosely to him, the image of her limbs getting twisted, her bloodied body struggling to reach him as she dragged herself on the cave floor. He blamed himself for it all, he blamed it for his powerlessness, he watched and did nothing.

Suddenly, he fell to his knees and screamed at the floor.

Rem was shocked but didn't move from her position, she shut her eyes until she heard a faint noise.

"No..." He mumbles out, Rem's head perked up.

"Why" he chokes out, this was drowned by his emotions, it was barely audible but, Rem was able to hear it. "I'm nothing"

"No... Subaru-kun..."  
"There is nothing to love about me... a person like me doesn't deserve to be loved..."  
"NO! That's wrong"

She raised her voice as she shouts at him, that made his heart hurt, he knows too well that he is incapable of doing anything, and he accepts that, He's just a shut-in NEET who's all talk. But why, why would Rem not accept it.

"Then what! What is there to love, my powerlessness, my foolishness!"

He spits out those words, his voice slowly grew bitter, Rem flinches at his bitterness.

"Subaru-kun might be weak and foolish at times... but despite that, he tries his best to help everyone, even if it cost his own life"

"...h"

"When we were in the forest, you risked your life so Rem and Nee-sama can escape"  
"H... if Roswall wasn't there..."

"If Subaru-kun wasn't in the forest Rem and Nee-sama wouldn't have survived"  
"But you went in because of..."

He blamed it all on himself, it was him that caused the problem, he doesn't want to be praised because of it.

"When we were fleeing with that girl, Subaru-kun risked his life to save Rem"  
"But..."

"And when Subaru-kun woke up, he was happy Rem was safe, he didn't care about his injuries, and he told Rem things that Rem wanted to hear the most"  
"I... no..."

"Subaru-kun melted Rems frozen heart, the one that was frozen during the fiery night when Rem had lost almost everything"  
"H... a... n-"

He knew he was utterly worthless, so he kept refusing her words.

"And that's why I love Subaru-kun"

They stayed in silence for a few minutes,

"But I'm useless, I'm worthless, I hate myself"  
"No matter, ill still love Subaru-kun"

"But you'll get killed because of me"

"Still..."  
"But why..." his voice grew weak.

"Because you're my hero Subaru-kun"

He had enough, he didn't want to risk her life for his own well-being, he had to make her go back. She held her hand out to him.

He grabbed her hand, and placed it on her chest, he gave her a pleading look, "Then let your hero do his job..."

"But..."

"If you love me, go back to the mansion... and live..."  
"But if Rem leaves, Rem may never see Subaru-kun ever again"  
"I may not come back, that's true... but It doesn't matter"

"But..."

"GO NOW" His voice then became hoarse. He lifts himself off the ground, still facing the other way.

"If... if you say so... Subaru-kun..."

With that Rem starts to walk down the stairs, Subaru couldn't see it but he knew Rem was crying, he could hear faint sobs from her direction. Her heart was probably broken. He heard one last thing before she left.

"Rem... Rem is sorry she was too weak to help you."

As the footsteps grew distant, he felt a sudden sting in his heart, he could feel a shadowy presence behind him. _**"Don't even think about it..."**_

Pain suddenly grappled his heart as he heard a muffled voice whisper something to him, he couldn't tell if it was male or female, it sounded, distorted. He still felt the presence behind him, but when he turned back he saw no one.

He was breathing heavily, his heart didn't feel right, it was beating at an alarming rate, it hurt, a lot.

"What... why... I didn't say anything, so why..."

Despite him not saying the cursed phrases, his heart was still crushed.

He looked down at his chest, to his surprise he didn't see them, the hands that would normally break his heart weren't there, he was shocked.

"If they didn't come to grab me, then why does it hurt"

Subaru was still on top of the old ruins.

He felt pain but this wasn't the same pain he would feel when the hands went for him. It didn't hurt as much as it usually would, it felt... self-induced. It was as if his mind was trying to tell him something...

 _ **"Don't you run, not yet!"**_

"Gahh..." His chest still pained, his body was shivering, whoever that voice belonged to, they weren't going to let him run away and leave everyone to die.

"GRAH-!" He screamed out, the pain shifted to his head, he fell to the ground, clutching his head, the mysterious presence was no longer there but he still felt eyes watching him.

The pain slowly subsided. He got up and looked around, there didn't seem to be anyone around there was no place to effectively hide here.

"What the hell was that..."

* * *

She ran through the bustling city, it was rather crowded for early in the morning, though it did help conceal the teardrops forming on the corner of her eyes.

 _"I'm sorry I'm weak..."_ That was the last thing she said before she left. Subaru has given up on everything he had, to keep her and the others away from danger. Though as absurd as it sounds, it's a totally solid idea.

At this point, she wasn't sure if he gave up, or if he's trying his best, though she wanted to believe it was the latter. Her tears grew bigger, but she held them back, she must believe.

"Subaru-kun... Subaru-kun will come back, Rem just has to believe..." She mutters as she continues to run, her destination was the Kartsen household.

She was supposed to stay there for a whole week as she was tasked with monitoring Subaru's health while he gets healed, but now, Subaru is gone, due to her task, she has to go and follow but he said otherwise, thus, there is no other option but to return to Roswaal's mansion.

.

She has arrived at the gate of the mansion, she had wiped off her tears and she was greeted by a familiar cat-lady, or what seems like one.

"Aahh, Rem-chan, your back nyan... eeh, where is Subaru-kyun?"

This was Felix Argyle, Crusch Kartsen's Knight. He was wearing a blue dress with ribbons, he short flax hair and cat ears sticking out the sides of his head. Despite his appearance, he's actually a fully-fledged male.

"Uhm..." Just hearing Felix say his name weakened her heart, but she put up a strong front and explains "Subaru-kun... there have been some... problems and he is not going to return for any further gate healing..."

"Nya? What happened?"  
"Well, he said he was leaving..."

The weakness in her voice was apparent and her wavering eyes made it obvious, whatever the reason, it didn't seem like she was taking Subaru's departure very well.

"Very well, Ferri-chan will inform Crusch-sama immediately" She nods and follows Felix into the mansion.

* * *

They approached a large door, it was the door to Crusch's office, Felix knocks and calls out. "Crusch-sama, Rem-chan has something she needs to discuss"

"You may enter" A voice calls back from the door.

They entered the room, at the far end, there sat a woman, she had long green hair, her amber eyes pierced across the room, she wore proper business attire and had an air of importance around her. Her name was Crusch Kartsen, she was the owner of the mansion and was a candidate for the next king of Lugunica.

Beside her was an older man, grey hair, and sharp eyes, he wore a butler uniform and has an intimidating though calm look. This was Wilhelm Trias, a man that took interest in Subaru and had helped with his swordsmanship, his mentor.

"Hello, Rem... Oh, Subaru isn't with you?"  
"Rem is afraid so. That is what Rem wanted to discuss with Crusch-sama"

Rem's face saddens, as she answered Crusch. She caught a glance and can tell that something is wrong, terribly wrong.

"I see, well did something happen to him, it would greatly concern us if something did, we are in a contract after all"

"Rem fears Subaru-kun... will not be coming back for his gate healing" This shook her a bit, but her face didn't show it. Wilhelm also seemed a bit surprised.

"Oh, and may I ask why is that?"

"Subaru-kun... said that... he is leaving" she struggles to keep her voice intact as she explains the situation to Crusch. She was clearly holding back her emotions.

"It couldn't be due to shame could it..." She muttered inaudibly.

"Rem is not completely sure why... but he fears something would happen if he returns to the mansion..."

"Interesting... is Subaru by chance being targeted by someone?"

"Subaru-kun has had an encounter with the infamous Gut hunter, Elsa Grienhardt, it was last month... but Rem doesn't think that is what he is afraid of..."

Rem's face suddenly got serious, "Subaru-kun... has the scent of the witch" her voice had been laced with a hint of anger, it wasn't directed to Subaru, it was to the witch.

"..."

Silence filled the room.

"He is not sure why but sometime during his life he has been cursed by something, and suddenly, this morning it had increased in concentration... he fears that if he returned in that state..."

"He would be leaving breadcrumbs for the Witch Cult to attack, and since the participation of the silver-haired half-elf, Emilia has been made public, it only makes it more likely to happen..." Crusch completes her sentence with an understanding nod.

"Yes, that is what Rem thinks as well."

That's what they ended up with, Subaru had left because if he were present, the Witch-cult would come out. It made sense, completely.

"I understand, that would be the wiser choice... so Rem, what will you do now?" Crusch asks her.

She hadn't thought about it but it was clear what she must do,"Rem must report back to Master Roswaal and relay the news to Emilia-sama"

"I see, so when would you like to leave?"  
"Um..."

She didn't want to leave so soon, she wanted to see Subaru one more time, but he probably left already, she could try to find him via the witches sent, but that might anger him, she didn't want Subaru to get mad at her, so...

"As soon as possible..."  
"Alright then, we'll have a carriage prepared for you right away"

"Thank you." Their conversation ended as she bowed and left the office. She headed over to her room. She starts packing all her things and sits on the bed, tears were streaming down her cheeks as she.

"Subaru-kun... please... come back..." her voice was shaky, any who heard it would definitely feel sad, no matter how carefree the person was.

Her hurt filled voice lingered through the door, Felix, who was passing by, couldn't help but stop in silence as he looked down, "Subaru-kyun, your such a weakling... can't even stop Rem-chan from crying..." he whispers to no one in particular.

* * *

He clutched both his head and heart, both throbbing hard, it was an unnatural pain, not physical, not mental either. This pain was... almost imaginary, it felt like it was not hitting his body, rather, it hurt his soul.

"Was that guilt just now..." It was surprisingly a reasonable explanation but it wouldn't explain the presence he felt earlier, was it the witch? There was no apparent reason for her to appear, and the pain was slightly different from the normal.

Well it didn't really matter at the moment, he had other things to do, and it seems like no matter what he did, he had to fight, he couldn't just stay still and wait for results.

The sudden pain had snapped him from his traumatized state, now he could think properly, of all the attempts he had so far, the ones where he was able to reach the mansion, Rem was able to survive up till then, so if he guarantees her safety, it should be more easing.

"Maybe... I was a bit harsh on the letdown..."

 _'Of course, I was, Ram will probably kill me when I come back won't she?'_ He thought to himself.

"Right... it's time to for me to be your hero... Rem..." He got up and looked at the direction where Rem had run off to.

He had the urge to see her, for her to stay by his side, or at least to say a goodbye, but that would make the whole thing pointless, so he strengthened his resolve and walked down the steps...

* * *

 **A/N**

 **...**

 **[ReviewR524]:** Remake time!  
 **[Subaru]:** At least I was a little less harsh on Rem, I guess...  
 **[Shadow]:** And I also make an appearance, yay...  
 **[Subaru]:** Who are you again?  
 **[Shadow]:** Yo, Subaru, the answer'd be a spoiler so [No comment]...  
 **[ReviewR524]:** The last thing we want is spoilers Subaru-san  
 **[Subaru]:** I guess...

 **...**

HEYO! I just recently re-read the original and oh boy did it suck compared to the newer ones I make, (The structure) I'm gonna do better explanations and put more stuff for foreshadowing and stuff on future arcs and there were scenes I just wanted to re-write completely cause I just thought of it differently.

Anyway, this doesn't affect the outcome of the other fics what so ever, also, updates on this one, in particular, will be slower than the other two, unless I have like, a lot of extra time or a sudden burst of energy.


	2. Chapter 2: Preparing for the fated day

_**Upload date: 2/9/2018**_  
 _ **Forgive Me [Arc3] ~ Remake**_

 **Chapter 2: Preparing for the fated day**

It was nearly noon, outside Crusch's mansion were Rem, Felix, Wilhelm, and Crusch herself. It's been about an hour since she has returned with news on Subaru's situation. A carriage had been prepared for Rem so she could return to Roswaal's mansion at once, only, without Subaru.

"Well then, it seems this is where we part ways," Crusch said, "Yes, Thank you for all you have done, Crusc-sama, Rem shall be taking leave right now..." She said politely with a bow before walking towards the carriage.

"Um... if Subaru-kun happens to pass by... please relay Rem and Emilia-sama's goodbyes, Rem wasn't able to..." Her voice was literally breaking down at this point, it made everyone uncomfortable.

"Yes... Ferri-chan can do that, Rem-chan..."  
"Thank you so much..."

With one final bow, she enters the carriage and takes her seat, the other waved their goodbyes as the carriage slowly made it's way to the gate.

Inside, it was silent, it was calming, but it wasn't right, since she was the only one there it would be natural that everything was quiet, but, the atmosphere was most definitely not calming.

Rem's eyes were slowly losing their usual glimmer. Her face was already flooded with tears, whispering his name as she wept onto her legs, "Please... come back..." She murmured with a voice completely drowned out by emotions.

* * *

Meanwhile, Subaru was walking through capital's market district, he was headed towards a familiar building, though it was technically his first time seeing it, in this timeline anyway.

"Reinhard has left capital... Priscilla is just a no... Anastasia is gonna be tricky... and maybe I can bait Crusch out with that Royal Treasurer..."

He had to use all the information he had gathered in the past loops to help him, and now the first step was about to be taken. He was in front of his desired destination, it was a restaurant, and with the smell reaching his nose, it seems like it was a fast-food one.

He opened the doors and scanned the building, the one he was looking for sat at the corner. It was a young lady, she had pale lavender hair which stretched down to her waist, she wore a long white dress with a fur hat along with a scarf, her appearance is somewhat of a cute girl, but her personality would equate to one of a greedy predator.

"Hey, Anastasia? You have a moment?"

He approached her and suddenly the atmosphere tensed up, he glanced around the room, many people were sitting down but on guard, probably her bodyguards.

"Watch it Onii-san, if you come any closer, Mimi may scream," The little kid sitting beside Anastasia said before waving her staff at him.

"Yeah... definitely don't want to make a little kid cry"  
"W-What?! That's not what Mimi meant!"

"Your Subaru from that day aren't you...?" She raised her hands and waved it around, suddenly everyone had eased up, "So, what brings this unexpected encounter? Normally you'd need an appointment... but this seems personal, perhaps you'd like to talk to Julius?"

"Tch, as if... no, this is more business related, and if you ask me, it'd have some big profit" That was his hook line, and it seems like it had worked, "Well then... let's hear it..." She made that face, the face he saw last time, a greedy one, it seems like she was going to extract all the information she can again, something he can't let happen if he wants her input.

"You see... I plan on forming an alliance for a subjugation group... to take down the Hakugei" Her face perked up, so did everyone else in the room, looks like he had already got her interest, "I see... so you want me a to aid you? I'm confident with my Mercenary group and they'd be thrilled to take on a strong opponent... though, I doubt they'd be able to take on such a monstrosity alone..."

"Of course... I'm also getting Crusch-san's help... so if your interested why not drop by at her place, say... later this afternoon?"

"The Karsten household? Very well... though how much can I trust your credibility? About the Hakugei and all?"

"One hundred percent... though, if you believe me or not it's up to you..." He says with complete confidence, he gets up and walks towards the exit, Anastasia seemed dissatisfied but curious nonetheless, "Is that really the same person from before?" she wonders.

.

"Haah! One down... two more to go, not sure if I can keep up this facade long enough though" Just pretending to be good at negotiations was tiring, putting up a strong front so that they don't get any information you don't want them to have.

He reaches into his pocket and takes out his cellphone, "Time for round two..." Looking at it, he had memories of the last loop, the one where they encountered the Hakugei, "Rem... please be safe..."

* * *

She sat there, hugging her legs, weeping, mumbling his name longingly over and over again. They had already gone half way past the Lifays Highway, they had already passed Flugel's tree a long way back.

She looked through the window, seeing her face getting reflected, her eyes had hints of red in them, her face had both new tears and dried out tears, but there was something else, it was a fog.

"..."

It wasn't just any fog, it was extremely thick, it was more like a giant cloud than a fog but it was very famous, it was the fog created by the Hakugei, a deadly fog that no one has escaped from.

"S-Subaru-kun..."

It suddenly made sense, why he wanted her to rush back quickly, any later and she'd have been caught in it, but then the question is, how did he know?

* * *

"Natsuki Subaru, nice to meet you Russell-san, I'm in need of your assistance" Subaru politely bows as he greets himself.

In front of him was a man, say half a head taller than Subaru, he had dark blonde hair and wore mostly red business attire, he had an air of professionalism. "I'm planning on forming an alliance between the Anastasia, Emila and Crusch camps... I have already got the first two done, but the Crusch camp may be a bit tricky..."

"I understand... so may I hear the conditions of this alliance?" He said with a 'Let's get this over with' expression.

"Conditions are as follows; The alliance will be on equal terms, the Emilia camp will put in their mining rights for the Elior forest's magic stones..." His demeanor instantaneously changes once Subaru mentions the mining rights.

"Shared mining rights you say... well, do continue..."

Seeing that he's interested put Subaru at ease, "Later this afternoon, the negotiations will begin, Anastasia will be present, as well as Crusch, I shall be there as the representative of the Emilia camp"

"The Emilia camp... may I ask what your position is in that camp..." Subaru put on a smirk, "Hehe... Natsuki Subaru, knight to the half-elf Emilia, that's who I am... or that's what I want to be..." He whispered the last part to himself.

"Oh, the knight... I see, then I shall take part in these negotiations... but, in exchange, you'd have to offer something to me, no?"

"Yeah, I've already got that covered..." He grabs his smartphone from his pocket, and opens it in front of him, "This is a Metia, I plan on forming a subjugation group in the alliance, we will be taking down the Hakugei and this Metia will be able to tell us the time or location at which it will appear... is that satisfactory?"

Subaru was slightly sweating, will the lie work? Who knows. Russell was inspecting it from a distance and was genuinely curious about it, "I'm unable to appraise it, so it really must be a Metia... yes, this will do... though, It seems you'll be needing it for the Subjugation, yes?"

"Yeah... I'll hand it over after the subjugation's complete"  
"Excellent"

'Two down... one to go' he said to himself.

* * *

Felix and Wilhelm were standing by the gate, the was already setting and they were about to go back inside before they saw someone approaching, "A-Anastasia-sama?"

"Why hello, Wilhelm-dono, Blue-kun..."

"May I ask what brings a rival Royal Candidate to the Karsten residence?" Wilhelm asks, "Perhaps you have business with Crusch-sama?"

"Why yes I do, It has something to do with an alliance as far as I know" This confused Felix and Wilhelm, "Um, Ferris hasn't been told about any alliance being formed, let alone knowing you'd be coming nya..."

"Oh? I'm sure Natsuki-kun has informed you, yes? He is the one that invited me after all"

Hearing Subaru's name being called, the two looked at each other shocked, "Um... Wil-ji... could Subaru-kyun have possibly ditched Emilia-sama nya?" Felix whispered to Wilhelm.

"I highly doubt it... even though we've known each other just for a little while, I'm sure Subaru-dono isn't the kind to just leave like that... I really hope not..."

Seeing the two mumbling Anastasia sighed, "It's impolite to just ignore a guest now is it?"

Hearing her the two snapped back in position, "A-Apologies Anastasia-sama... early today, we were told that Subaru-dono wouldn't be leaving and that he may not return anytime soon... so we haven't seen him as of now..."

She gave them an annoyed look, "And he said there was big profit too... looks like he tricked me into this, he's more dirtier than I thought he was..."

"Anastasia-san your here already?" Subaru came from behind her, Russell Fellow walking beside him, "Ah there you are Natsuki-kun, you had me worried there for a second... oh, Russel-san, seems like you're serious about this whole thing now aren't ya?"

"Of course I'm serious, I've already made someone I'm close to, cry for this, ain't gonna let it go to waste..." He walks over to Felix and Wilhelm. Wilhelm gave a relieved sigh while Felix slightly glared at him, "Hey guys... I'm guessing Rem told you I was leaving right?"

"You've got some nerve coming back, Subaru-kyun..."  
"Right... please, for now, forget everything Rem had told you... I had to get her back Roswaal's mansion for what comes next..."

"So, you made her cry on purpose, huh, Subaru-kyun?"  
"Okay... maybe I was a bit too harsh..."  
"That's quite enough Ferris... we can't keep our guest's waiting..."

* * *

The sun had finally set and everyone was inside Crusch's office, the abrupt visit was unexpected and had taken them by surprise but seeing that there were many important people involved, it would be rude to dismiss it.

"So he called you as well, Russel Fellow..."

"Yes, the shared mining rights that the alliance offers is something too great to ignore, and it has to come through the Karsten estate first, so it'd be natural that I come along"

Crusch looked across the table, to the one who was responsible for the meeting, "Natsuki Subaru, can you please restate the reasoning behind wanting to form an alliance?"

Subaru righted himself, "Yes... the most important reason for me wanting to form this alliance is so I can gather forces to aid in taking down a threat that is nearing the Mather's domain, Emilia-sama is put at great risk so it must be taken care of immediately... there are other political reasons but we can put that aside for now..."

He tried to sound as formal as possible, mostly because Russell Fellow has a high image of Subaru, with him introducing himself as Emilia's knight. Crusch stares at Subaru intently, "I can accept that... though, if you have anything else you'd like to add, please say..."

"Right... in addition to the shared mining rights, the Emilia camp also provides... the time and location for the next appearance of the Hakugei..."

After he finished saying that, everyone looked at him, though only the members of the Crusch camps seem surprised, he took out his cellphone and flipped it open, "This is my Metia, it can tell me the time at which the Hakugei will appear..."

"And apparently, I have an ability... no, it's more like I'm cursed... through this curse, I can find out about certain things, that's how I found about the Hakugei's location..."

Though it all seemed skeptical, Anastasia and Russel seemed to believe him, though Crusch still has her doubts, "Can you explain how your Metia works?"

"Well, it has many things it can do but for it to be able to find out the timing of the Hakugei's appearance... the event must first happen once while the Metia is active... then it records that moment and makes... a prediction for the next appearence..." He did tell the truth, though it was stretched out pretty far, it may activate Crusch's blessing, but she didn't do anything.

"So you are implying that you have encountered the Hakugei before?" The atmosphere suddenly got tense, then Subaru answered, "Yes..." it took everyone by surprise, they thought he would deny it at first, then have Crusch make him admit, but that didn't happen.

"It happened not long ago, The Hakugei was about the size of a mansion, a large horn on its head with excessively large yellow eyes, it goes around in a fog and can produce some sort of high-density mist that has a tendency to erase someone's existence..."

The last bit of information peeked everyone's interest, "Erase someone's existence, you say? Where'd you hear that from, Natsuki-kun?" Anastasia asks.

"It happened last time, I was traveling back with a close friend, the Hakugei attacked us, I was able to survive because she sacrificed herself to save me..." He looks at up to the ceiling, his face twisted in regret and guilt, "When I got back, no one remembered her, it was as if... she never existed, they told me I went alone, they told me that no one used that room, but for some reason I remembered, I clearly do..."

He was hurt deeply as he tapped into those memories, "Then... about this curse, we'd like to know more about it"

"Haa... that's not really something I can do, part of the curse stops me from talking about it, I think this is just about how much I can tell you... sorry about that..."

"I have one last question... why do you think we'd need information on the Hakugei?"

These were the question he was prepared to answer, he had Russell help him piece out the bits of information he collected from the different loops and he had come to this conclusion, "It's only mere speculation but... firstly, I've noticed a lot of traffic here, it seems you've been stacking up your armory and it looked much more than just restocking supplies, seems like you were preparing for a battle"

Crusch narrows her eyes at Subaru, probably due to the fact that he was literally giving away information to Anastasia, but it meant that he was correct.

"Secondly, taking down the Hakugei isn't an easy feat, but would you do so, you'd be rewarded indefinitely, taking down the great mabeast that terrorized the world for four hundred years will definitely get some attention from the crowd... and finally, Russell told me about something about Wilhelm having some sort of grudge against it, so I was thinking it'd be useful information to give"

Hearing the last one Wilhelm gave a surprised look then sighed, "Although I can't really prove it, the evidence still stands... so, what will it be, Crusch-san?"

"Huh... seems like you've seen completely through me... though I still hold many doubts and have numerous amounts of questions, I will choose to trust you for now, so I'll take part in the alliance..."

"Then the deal is made..." Russell finalized it.

.

"Haaah, I'm not cut out for these sort of things," Subaru said as he slid down the chair, "Even though, that wasn't half bad, Natsuki-kun, I'd say it was more than satisfactory"

"Really? It's all thanks to Russell-san..."  
"So then, Natsuki-dono, our end of the deal should take place after the completion of the Subjugation, yes?"  
"Yep, I'll keep it safe till then"

* * *

It was night-time, everyone was preparing for tomorrow's battle, Subaru on the other hand, was in a library inside Crusch's mansion, he had to find his place in the battle, and while being bait was a big role, it was a risky one, so he had to find a way to minimize the risks.

He picked up a book that, from his knowledge of the language in Lugunica, said 'Yin Magic', that's what he was hoping it said anyway. He flipped through a few pages and read through the fundamental basics of Yin magic, until someone came in.

"Subaru-dono, there you are..."  
"Ah, Wilhelm-san, you were looking for me?"

Wilhelm walked up to him and saw the book he was reading, "Trying to strengthen your magic prowess despite your gate being in bad shape... well enough of that, I wasn't able to thank you before"

"Thank me? For what? I was thinking it'd be 'It's your fault we have to fight' kind of thing..."

"Not at all, you see all of us have a history with... the Hakugei..." He said in a serious voice, laced with hatred "Fourteen years ago, that beast took away my wife's life during a subjugation quest to hunt it down... her name was Theresia van Astrea..."

He said her name longingly, "I see... I'm sorry for your loss... wait... van Astrea... eh?! That means your related to Reinhard in a way yes?"

He nods, "I am his grandfather, Wilhelm van Astrea, Subaru-dono, thanks to you, I am able to avenge the person most precious to me, I thank you for granting this man the opportunity he has been searching for, for a long time..." he bowed down respectfully.

"Ah... it's... no problem at all... hehe..." They both chatted for a bit before Wilhelm left Subaru to his book, he kept on reading it through the night, until he fell asleep.

* * *

A/N

 **...**

 **[Subaru]:** Natsuki Subaru, DESU!  
 **[Emilia]:** Watashiwa Emilia, DESU!  
 **[Beatrice]:** The Great Spirit, Beatrice, Desu! I suppose...  
 **[ReveiwR524]:** The Author, ReveiwR524 DESUUU!  
 **[Betelguese]:** Those are my lines... desu...

 **...**

Looking good, there, many things will change, hope you guys are liking it currently. Warlock chap will come up at around 16/2/18, the latest GMT.

Gonna work on the split chapters in TPP (been calling it APP all this time sumanai) well see ya next week, gonna take my time and study the hell out!


	3. Chapter 3: The One That Cried

_**Upload date: 3/2/2018**_  
 _ **Forgive Me [Arc3] ~ Remake**_

.

 **Chapter 3: The One That Cried**

Outside the mansion Ram stood, sweeping the fallen leaves, looking in the distance worriedly, she had received some strong Synesthesia from Rem a few hours ago and had rushed outside to wait in case she was returning home.

Then in the distance, she saw a carriage approaching, "Rem..." she muttered as she saw it draw nearer. It was strange why Rem had returned, Emilia did say Subaru's healing would take about a week longer so they had no reason to return so early.

Suddenly, the thought of Subaru saying 'I miss Emilia-tan' ran through her head. It would explain the sudden arrival, and maybe Rem's synesthesia. Did he break her heart already? Her face turned into one of anger, but she avoided looking at the carriage to avoid misunderstandings.

The carriage stopped and the driver got off, they both bowed at each other, the driver opening the door to the carriage, revealing Rem on the other side, the curtains were closed so the inside was dark but she was just able to make out that Subaru wasn't in the carriage.

"We have arrived Miss..." The driver calls out.

"Y-Yes... thank you..." Rem said with a weak voice, she steps out of the carriage staggeringly and walks beside Ram, she saw that her eyes were dull, probably from excessive crying, which worried her, "Rem?"

"I shall be taking my leave then..."

The two bow as he got back on the driver's seat and whips the reins, he made a turn and was off in the distance. Rem stayed in her position and was trembling.

"Rem!? What's wro-"

She fell to the side, prompting Ram to catch her, tears were flooding through her eyes once more as she clutched onto her sister, "Nee-sama... Nee-sama..." "Rem, tell me what's wrong!"

"Subaru-kun..." her voice even weaker than last time.

Ram made a sour face, "What did that damn Barusu do!" she said angrily but in a low voice, "Subaru-kun... is... not... hk- not coming back..." she struggled to say as she clung onto her sister, dropping the basket of appas on her other hand.

"Rem! What do you mean he's not coming back!"

But that was the end of it, she just kept on crying and crying, so Ram decided to stop questioning her. Holding her dear sister close as she curses to the man that's absent, 'Why can't you be considerate for once Barusu...'

"It's okay Rem... come on, we're going inside..."

* * *

They went in and sat down in Rem's bed, Emilia caught sight of them and joined in with Ram briefing her on what had happened. Rem has calmed down, her tears were still slightly visible but gone nonetheless.

"So Rem, what happened to Barusu..."  
"Subaru-kun... he said that he is no longer returning to the mansion..."

Instantly guilt overrides Emilia and Ram was in complete shock, "We know that... did he at least tell you why?" "He said that... he didn't want to be a bother to any of us anymore..."

"Hmph... well at least he got that part right..." Ram said to herself.

"Oh no..." Emilia's face was now twisted in anguish, she stood up and was going to leave the room, "It's all my fault... I was too hard on him, wasn't I... I shouldn't have gotten too angry, no, I shouldn't have..."

"Emilia-sama... Rem doesn't think it's your fault..."  
"No, it has to be... why else would he leave like that..."

"Subaru-kun said something else, that if Rem doesn't return quick... something would happen, but Subaru-kun didn't tell Rem what it was... but during the trip back, Rem saw something..."

Emilia sat back in her chair, still feeling extremely guilty making Puck come out to comfort her, "The fog..." she said clearly earning shocked faces from Puck and Ram, while Emilia, being the one who's oblivious to what that implies, just asks, "What 'fog'?"

"Lia, you've heard of the Hakugei, right? The one that had terrorized the land for four-hundred years?"  
"Um, yeah, one of the three great Mabeasts?"  
"Usually when people talk about the fog, they're implying that its presence is nearby... that's what you thought yes?"

Rem gave a quick nod to the cat spirit, "If Rem had left any later, Rem would have come across it and it wouldn't end well... but that wasn't all, Subaru-kun was also scared of something else... Rem had discussed it with Crusch-sama... and we came to the conclusion that if Subaru-kun returns, it might bring activity... from the witch cult..."

Gasps were heard, everyone but Emilia understood about it leading her to question Rem, "But why, what does the witch cult want with Subaru?"

"It seems Barusu hasn't told you yet... but he has the certain stench of a witch that everyone despises, though, why is he only leaving now? May it be because Emilia-sama's participation has become public... maybe that Barusu isn't as stupid as I thought..."

"B-But still... that means it's my fault... if I didn't..."  
"Lia... I'm sure he's doing this because he wants to keep you safe..."  
"I know but... doesn't that mean he's in danger? Shouldn't we keep him safe?"

"Don't worry Lia, he might be the kind to walk into danger, but I have a feeling that he'll be alright... to some extent, anyway"

"Puck! That's not at all reassuring!"

While the three kept on going about the missing boy, a spirit was listening to them from the closed door with a deadpan look on her face, "So you really weren't they? You all just keep on leaving Betty... I suppose..."

.

The talk they had went on and on, and before they knew it, it was past dinner time. Rem was left to have some rest so Ram had to prepare it by herself, again. Everything was silent and boring without Subaru, everyone realized that now.

After dinner, they all went to do their things before finally going to bed.

Rem was in her room, silently sobbing in her sleep, saying his name over and over again. Ram stood by the door watching with a pained face, "I can't believe I'm saying this but... you better come back Barusu... or else I'll kill you..."

Emilia was in her room, looking out the window, staring at the moon, "Subaru... you really are a handful..." she sighed and pulled the sheets over herself, the moonlight fading away as clouds started blocking the sky.

Beatrice sat down her stool, in the regular position, right in front of the door, a certain urge to want someone to barge into the door, "It doesn't matter if your not they, I suppose... Betty just want's this to stop... that's okay, right Mother?"

* * *

 **A/N**

 **More than two weeks and only this?! That might be what your saying... and yes, I might have slacked in this one, mostly because this chapter wasn't easy to rewrite and I was also working super hard on Warlock, man, I remember clearly a year ago [4 months actually] I would be too scared to write action sequences, now here I am, prioritizing them, haha... I was so naive back then... anyway, I'll start updating this again now.**

 **The next chapter will be more satisfying so please bear with me for now okay... and also no End of Chapter Conversation today for those of you who are wondering...**


	4. Chapter 4: Day Before the Battle

**Upload Date: 3/4/2018**  
 **Forgive Me [Arc3] ~ Remake**

 **.**

 **Chapter 4: Day Before the Battle**

Sunlight broke through the open window, shedding light and blowing a cool breeze on a sleeping Subaru. He stayed up pretty late reading about Yin magic, even though he knew it wouldn't really work out if he tried implementing it.

The library's door opened, and in came Felix, with his knight uniform and all. He was looking for Subaru, who was nowhere to be found, that is until he caught sight of him. He sighed and trudged over to him.

"Oi, Subaru-kyun..." He tapped his shoulders, not getting a reaction. He tried again, "Get up, Subaru-kyun..." this time nudging him harshly, he only replied with a mumbled, "Five more minutes... Rem..."

"You've brought this upon yourself, -nya" Felix puts his fingers on his neck and gave a slight chuckle as blue light glowed fingertips.

"AKK!"

Subaru shot up while clutching his neck, nearly scared to death. He looked over to the person responsible for the sudden sting of pain, "F-Ferris?! Ugh, couldn't you have woken me up more gently?!"

"Ferri-chan did, but you didn't wake up Subaru-kyun, anyway, the meeting is happening in an hour, you better be there, nya, why were you in the library anyway, you have a room you know"

Subaru got up from his chair and did a few stretches, then, he looks back at the table, where a book was laid, "Well, I couldn't sleep knowing that everyone else was working hard, so I went and read a few books, you never know when a new spell may help out..." He showed Felix the book he was reading.

"Magic... Subaru-kyun, you better not strain that gate more than you already have, any more and you'll just destroy it, nya..." He said with a stern look.

"Right, right, I won't use it unless I absolutely have to... so, the meeting, I'm guessing it's in the hall..." Subaru said as he walked with Felix out the door.

"Yes, once we're done with that, Subaru-kyun get's to pick his ground dragon, then we'll head directly to the base of Flugel's tree, nya"

"Nice..." He shoved the book in his pocket, he had the strangest feeling that it might be useful in future.

.

Everyone was gathered in the mansion hall, warriors off all diferent kinds were littered around in groups, Subaru felt so out of place for some reason. They were all participating in the Hakugei subjugation alongside Subaru.

Suddenly, he was grabbed by the collar and lifted up, "W-Woa, hey, calm down!" he stammered while grabbing his collar from the front to prevent it from ripping.

"Hmm, yer the one aren't ya? The one that started thsi lil gig... ya got the eyes and some weird clothes too..."

"Ahem! If you wouldn't mind, I would rather not let my neck snap!"

"Hah, sorry about that!" The person laughed heartily as he lowered him down, giving him a strong pat on the back. He straightens himself up and pulls out his hand, signalling for a hand shake, "Name's Ricardo, Ricardo Welkin, head of the Fang's of Iron, nice meeting ya"

He took his hand and gave a firm shake. He was a wolf demihuman, with a very muscular build, standing taller than most of the other's, say about nine feet six inches. Subaru caught a glance at the emblem in his shoulder guard.

"So you're with Anastasia-san... I'm Natsuki Subaru, nice to meet you... and yeah, I'm the one that started this whole thing..."

"Really now? My lady told me you're participating in the battle, now, I'm not making assumptions or anything, but you don't look like you got a lot of buff on ya? And that's not the usual mage attire I see these days, unless... that's some kind of ancient relic or something? My lady did say you had a Metia as well..."

Ricardo gazed at Subaru curiously, he waved his hands and sighed, "No... this isn't an ancient relic, and I'm not good at magic either..."

"Oh, so your the brains kinda guy right? Working behind the scenes" he nudged his shoulders.

"Hehe... no, all I'll be doing is walking around as the whale follows me, not the coolest role but someone's gonna have to risk it... man people expect too much from me, and just the other day, I made a fool out of myself" he murmured the latter part to himself.

"Not true bro, that thing takes guts and seeing you volunteer shows that you got guts! Good luck with that... oh my lady's callin me, see ya later!" he rushed over to a waving Anastasia.

"It's the captains job to keep his men calm, his personality fits that criteria well, don't you think?" Crush came up behind him, her wearing light armor and a sword at her waist, "Oh, Crusch-san, you're fighting as well?"

She nods, "Do I look like someone who can sit in a chair, waiting for news? Rather, I should be asking you that question, I couldn't help but over hear something about 'walking around as the whale follows'..." she says with a skeptical expression, "Rem did tell us of your Witch's scent which is probably how you came up with the plan, but is it really okay, it would put your life at great risk"

"Heh, aren't we already putting our lives at risk by taking this thing on?" Subaru joked.

Crusch chuckled along, "Yes, you are right, we are gambling our own lives for this... you might as well take something to protect yourself with, say a few magic stones to repel the beast if it gets too close"

Subaru was surprised, why was she worried about him? Last time he checked, she didn't give a damn about him, only about the fact that he'd get himself killed, nothing more than a warning. "Y-Yeah, I'd like that very much, thanks..." Was it because he was succesful at the negotiation?

Suddenly, the door opened, several armored older men entered the room and approached them, "Crusch-sama... may this man be..." she just nods at them. The one leading the group went over to Subaru and grasped his shoulders.

"Natuki Subaru-dono... from the bottom of our hearts... we thank you for granting us a chance in slaying that retched beast..." The men bowed to him, getting so much praise in such a short time, not something he can get used to so quickly, "Y-Yeah, let's all do our best"

"Indeed" The waved off and went over to Wilhelm, "They were troops invited by Wilhelm, they all have history with the Hakugei, you've brought them the light they were looking for Subaru..." "Well, if you put it like that..."

"Crusch-sama, it's time..." Felix came to them, pointing to the pedestal.

She nods to him and walks over to it, all the warriors lining up in an orderly manner, Subaru joining in on it, "May I have your attention everyone!" The announcement has begun. All the bickering stopped and everyone faced forward.

"For four hundred years, the Hakugei has tormented us. Four hundred years! A beast created by the Jealous Witch to terrorize us. Ever since it was made, the world became its hunting grounds, it dominated the land and took countless lives, but we shall stop it tonight. We will move out, our destination is Flugel's Tree, on the Lifaus Highway! Tonight is the night when all the suffering will end! Tonight is the night we slay the White whale with our own hands! Tonight is the night we take back what's ours!"

With that speech, everyone drew there's weapons and screamed out their battle cries. Subaru faced forward with a determined face, "Let's go for a dance Fate-sama... I'll show you what I've got..."

* * *

"That's a lot to choose from, hehe..."

Subaru, Crsuch, and Felix were outside, it was time for him to pick his ground dragon, and they had a wide variety to pick from, "Kinda hard since I have no knowledge about ground dragon breeds..."

He walked across, looking at each one as he passed by, until he stopped at a jet black one, "Hey... aren't you that one..." he extended his arm to it, and it grunted as it brought it's snout over to his hands, "Hah, so you remember me..."

Crusch and Felix looked at him astonished, "Have you, by chance, met this one somewhere, Subaru-kyun?" Felix asked him, "Well... I do recall seeing her when you visited, it was the one pulling your carriage, I think... either way, Patarasche, I choose you!"

"I'm surprised she accepted you like that Subaru, her breed is known for their extreme pride, for it to act like this, she must have taken a liking to you when you first met..."

"Or it's love at first sight! Haha!"

They all had their laughs and they prepared for the upcoming battle. On the base of Flugel's tree, at midnight, Subaru clutched the reins as he stared off into the distance, watching as the soldiers left, one by one.

Patarasche grunted, looking up at him, "Heh... let's give it our best to, eh, Patarasche?" She gave a load roar and ran forward, catching up with the rest of them.

 _This time, for sure, I'll save you all..._

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Decided to throw a pokemon reference there, and, English Dub cast announced, HYPE!**

 **Let's stop the End of Chapter convos for now because I need to study. I cut out the mansion bit as I decided it was better to refine that as it's own chapter, I like to keep each chapter to it's main point, so if it's preperation for battle, it's preperation for battle, simple.**

 **Okay this is just me rambling about school, so if you don't want to hear it, then feel free to ignore.**

 **I had a Literature exam last Thursday, 1st March. You see, I and several others dropped the subject but we were given word that you have to take the mocks nonetheless, so I went to the hall, having not study shit, the people who did take it, looked at me, almost in a mocking manner.**

 **Now, my friend came in last, (he also dropped Literature) our teacher notices, and stops him, he asks, "Why are you here? Didn't you drop Literature?" Then, everyone turned their heads over to them, "If you dropped it, you don't need to take the Mocks" Then half of everyone present just ran straight for the door, turning back giving the people who did do it either a mocking laugh or the middle finger.**

 **We had a free lesson and after it was over, we came over to check on them, they all went out with deadpan looks on their faces, completley ignoring us as we asked about how the exam was... it was a great feeling...**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading, see ya maybe after Tuesday or 9 March for next Warlock chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5: A Conquest not to Forget

**Upload Date: 5/12/2018  
Forgive me [Arc3] ~ Remake**

.

 **Chapter 5: A Conquest not to be Forgotten**

"I'm Hetaro, Hetaro Pearlbaton, and that over there is Mimi, she's my older sister and the vice-captain for the Iron Fangs, the big kobold you met earlier was the captain"  
"Well, they seem pretty audacious now don't they…"

Subaru was conversing with a young cat boy, he was of the 'Kitty' demi human species, the name itself is self-explanatory. He had Orange hair and cat ears, though he was much, much shorter than Felix. A little bit above Subaru's waist would be the top of his head, he heard that's as high as they go, even fully grown adults.

"Hehe, yeah, I'm usually the one making the big commands…"  
"Must be hard, so are you two twins?"  
"Triplets actually, my younger brother Tivey is in the barricade group…"

Hetaro said while chuckling lightly. Subaru glanced down at his mount, which surprisingly wasn't a ground dragon. Hetaro caught his line of sight and said, "They're Rigers, you find them a lot around the Kararagi city-state, not as fast as ground dragons but they are much easier to maneuver and are much better for close ranged combats if needed"

"I see, seems you guys are always prepared for these kinds of things, eh?"  
"We had experience…"

"Yo bro! What's the with the gloomy face? Hahaha!" Ricardo pulled back and faced Subaru with a hearty smile, Mimi could be seen in front of him, trying to find space to nudge in to the conversation, "Well, I don't know about you but we're kinda walking straight to a battlefield right now, forgive me for feeling just a little bit anxious"

"Haha! So i'm getting that you've never been to a life or death situation before?"  
"Oh no, I've been through quite a lot of those, got cut by a bowel hunter, fell off a high place, nearly mauled to death by mabeast, got hit straight by a morning star, got inflicted by a curse, and got frozen once… really not the best memories to recall you know…"  
"Woah! I thought you were something, but now I **know** you're something! Look bro you gotta lift your head when your entering battle, that way, you can see where your enemy's at, it also gets your blood pumping yeah!?"

"Yeah, that's right!" The one that replied was Mimi, who managed to squeeze in somehow, "Once Mimi gets serious, nothing can stop Mimi! And since Hetaro and Captain are here, Mimi is even stronger! Waha!" She said while standing up on her mount and punching the air, leaning from side to side.

"Nee-chan! Be careful you'll fall!"  
"Hetaro's such a crybaby! I won't fall!"

Even Patrasche let out a loud roar, "Hah! See even she gets it!" Ricardo said while giving Subaru a firm pat on the back.

Letting out a chuckle, Subaru looked over to Ricardo, who just shot him a thumbs up before leaving to comfort the other soldiers, "He's doing a really good job as captain, huh…" "Yeah, to be honest, we only joined the mercenary group because of him, he has a way of calming people down". Subaru image of Ricardo was someone who was dependable, someone who can say it's alright and stick to his words, it's something Subaru can only dream of doing.

* * *

Having arrived at the base of Flugel's tree, the group set up camp, many went to rest while the others prepared their equipment for battle and did warm-ups, Subaru was sitting by the base of the tree, reading the book he borrowed from Crusch's library. "Murak… a semi-low class yin spell that reduces the amount of influence gravity has on the target, in turn lowering its weight. The more mana applied to the spell, the greater the reduction of gravity… now that seems like a spell I can use!"

Subaru stood up and readied himself, in order to cast a spell, one must be able to imagine its effects, the chanting is just a way to concentrate your mind into that specific thought, and in case of Murak, Subaru imagined himself getting lighter, and he chanted, "Murak…" He felt a little different, he was most definitely lighter. He took a deep breath and moved a step forward, his foot reached the ground slower than usual, next he jumped up, he jumped higher and glided down, the spell was definitely working.

He tried applying more mana, as much as he can until he could feel his gate straining a little, Whoah!" He started floating up, ever so slowly, about a millimeter a second, he had this weightless feeling and it was great, only, "H-How do I turn it off!" He just kept on floating upwards, not showing any signs of going down, even though he was barely an inch of the ground. He grabbed onto the tree and wished for his mana to run out soon, "I'm heavy, I'm heavy, I'm heavy!" He said repeatedly, in hope that it would turn off the spell, and it did, but he fell head first to the ground.

"Ugh…"

He looked up and was surprised to see Crusch standing in front of him, wearing light armor and a scabbard attached to her waist with the hilt of her sword sticking out. "Um…" "I was practicing some new spells that might help during the battle…" "I see…"

Subaru righted himself and dusted his tracksuit, then Crusch handed him a sack, about the size of a medium sized plastic bag, "What's this?" "It's the magic stones I talked about before the meeting, we had some to spare but it isn't many, so use it wisely, Subaru"

"Right… thanks!"  
"It's nothing, but should you really be practicing spells right now? Your gate is still not fully healed, you might fracture it during battle…"  
"I'm aware of that, believe me, I am, but if I my gate could somehow give us just the slightest advantage, then I'll happily shatter it"  
"Huh, you are a weird one, you do know that you won't be able to use magic after that's done right?"  
"Hey, I've only started using magic a month ago, the last time I've casted a spell was two weeks ago, so not having magic for the rest of my life isn't too bad"

"Well, looks like someone's independent," Crusch said, they both had a good laugh and she left him to himself. He opened up the sack he was given and examined the contents. About thirty stones, five from each element. "Yin, Yang, Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. I have an idea of what most of them do… well, I'll just have to guess for the rest of them…"

He closed the sack again and placed it on the ground, he turned to look at the tree one more time, "I know they said you were big, but I think 'big' is an understatement now… huh, what's this?" Around the base of the tree, Subaru saw a mark, letters to be exact, it said, "Flugel - Beyond the Great Waterfall…" the seemingly random words crossed through Subaru's mind, until a thought suddenly came through, "Wait… could it be… did he get thrown over the waterfall? Guess that's where he died then…"

Subaru looked around the tree but he wasn't able to spot anymore writing so he said to himself, "It wouldn't hurt to leave my own credentials now would it, hehe" He borrowed a dagger from one of the soldiers and carved out in the trunk, 'Subaru, Half-Elf's knight, from Earth' in japanese, "They'd never be able to read it… well, Al would I guess…"

Subaru headed back to return the knife, and then he went to rest himself, night time soon came.

.

Wilhelm stood by a patch of familiar flowers, letting the breeze blow past him, "Yo Wilhelm-san, I didn't know you were the kind to gaze at flowers…" He turned around to see Subaru walk up to him, with Patrasche behind him. "My wife was a woman who loved flowers, I guess being with her had etched the hobby onto me…"

"Heh, you clearly do care for her, even after decade…"  
"She is a person I would never forget… Subaru-dono, I would like to thank you-"

"Now wait right there… let's beat the crap out of that whale first, then we'll proceed with the thanks and everything, okay?"

Subaru said as he pumped his fist towards Wilhelm, "Hm, as you wish, Subaru-dono…" Wilhelm and Subaru bumped fists, he grinned while Subaru smirked, they looked over to the camp, everyone getting ready and in line. Subaru glanced at his phone, "About an hour left… right then, let's get this party started!"

Subaru mounted on Patrasche while Wilhelm got on his own Red scaled ground dragon and they went over to the front of the group, where Crusch and Felix were. Subaru glanced at Crusch and she nodded, letting him know that they were ready. He looked over to his phone, and it started ringing. The ringing of the phone echoed through the plains, but nothing happened, all the soldiers were alert, looking around frantically, but nothing came.

"Subaru?" Crusch said while looking at Subaru, he sighed and went forward, the others looked at him skeptically, some even decided to drop their weapons thinking that the whole ordeal was a fraud, "Looks like I'll force you out" Subaru muttered under his breath. He stopped in his tracks after covering a fair amount of distance away from the army, then he said, "I… can Return... by Dea-!"

Time suddenly stopped before he could finish his sentence, the shadowy hands suddenly came and rubbed his heart, gently stroking it, not squeezing it yet, it was a warning. The hands stayed there as the world got darker, they then suddenly receded and time moved once more, Subaru's heart beat rose and an ominous aura was being emitted from him.

"Get ready!" He shouted, putting all the soldiers on guard. He then whipped the reins, making Patrasche rush forward, surprising everyone but it was only for a second as a loud wail soon made them close their ears. They looked up to the sky and saw the clouds disperse and blocking the moon, there it was, The White Whale, the Hakugei!

"Guh…"

Crusch hesitated for a bit but was able to shout out, "Scatter!" then all the soldiers ran off in different directions, trying to move out of the whales way, only to find out that it was locking on to Subaru.

"Perfect" Subaru said as he glanced back, the whale was most definitely following him, and at a pretty fast speed as well, "Didn't know whales could go that fast…" Subaru whipped the reins and Patrasche dashed forward faster.

"Troops! Fire the night banisher!"

At Crusch's command, a cannon was loaded with several large Yang stones and was fired in the air, it blasted right above the whale, prompting everyone to cover their eyes. The night sky was brightened and was as bright as day, and the whale was shaking around violently, seems it was blinded by the sudden flash, though that didn't stop it from coming straight for Subaru, just as he was about to be eaten alive, Patrasche made a sharp turn, and was able to safely run away while the army started to assault it.

"Haah! Good job Patrasche, I'm gonna be counting on you partner!" Subaru praised his ground dragon, which she replied with an approving grunt. Subaru looked over to the whale, it seems like the frontal assault group was doing a good job, all they needed to do was ground the whale and it will be and easy victory from there. "Nothing much we can do but wait till it starts moving again…"

"Nya… it does get boring, doesn't it Subaru-kyun…"  
"Oh, Ferris… well, you're the armies medic, you've got to be ready at all times, I'm just bait, not as important…"  
"What are you talking about, Subaru-kyun? If you don't distract that whale, Ferri-chan won't be able to treat any wounds, nya…"

"Your role is important too, nya…"

Subaru looked back at the whale and he could see Wilhelm running across it, digging deep into its hide while he's at it. "W-Woah… Wilhelm-san is going all out isn't he…" "That's Wil-ji for you, nya…"

"Retreat! Fire the cannons!" Subaru can hear Crusch shout out. Several cannons were loaded with fire gems and were shot at the whale and was blasted at its side. From afar it seemed to do a lot of damage, "Fireballs ready! Fire!" Crusch shouted out another command, Several mages were behind Crusch and they chanted, "Ul-Goa!" Giant fireballs were summoned and fired at the whale, which caused more it to wobble.

"Nyah!"  
"Did we get it?!"

The whale let out a screech, showing that it wasn't ready to fall yet, "That things much more sturdy than we thought, we used all our best moves right in the first round, and since it ain't down yet, this means it's gonna be a bit of a challenge…" Ricardo said to the two as he readied his cleaver. Felix and Subaru saw Wilhelm jump of the whale and head straight for the ground. Ricardo then started and prepared his cleaver, "Upsy daisy!" Wilhelm used Ricardo's cleaver to launch himself back up, he plunged his sword straight into the whales right eye, making blood spill out of it.

The whale started to shake violently again, Wilhelm wasn't able to get a hold and fell down once again, but as he was falling he was able to slice the whales horn off, then his red ground dragon caught him before he reached the ground.

Everyone else got off the whale right after that. Crusch readied her sword and released a wind strike, that cut deep through the whales skin, "Woah, what was that?" "That was Crusch-sama's One hundred men Strike, nya… she uses wind magic and her sword skills to launch a wind blade that can go far distances…"

"Well, that's neat…"

Subaru and Felix rode back to where Crusch was, and Subaru asked, "Crusch-san, how does it look?" "Subaru… at this rate, we'd be able to slay the beast, it's just a matter of time…" "Hah, that's great!"

Crusch was about so let loose another strike but before that happened, the whale let out an ear shattering screech, the shockwaves pushing the army back while making them cover their ears. "W-What…!?" Subaru glanced up at it and saw that it staring down at them, it's yellow eyes turning blood red.

The whale opened its mouth, sensing danger Subaru shouted out, "This is bad! Crusch-san, get ready!" Fog started accumulating in it's mouth as it sucked in the moisture from the air, and it blasted forward, straight for them, "Hiyaa!" She sliced her sword and a blade of wind collided with the fog, stopping it in its tracks.

Suddenly, the whale's skin started to act up, flaps opened and started releasing more fog, and at an alarming rate too. "It's using the fog to hide! Don't let it go!" Crusch said, and hit it again with another wind blade, but as it cut through the fog, they found out that the whale had already moved, "Damn it, where did it-?!" Subaru looked around, the fog having already surrounded them.

"We have to act carefully, now that we have lost sight of it, the upper hand has gone to the whale…"

Subaru grabbed three wind crystals and threw them around, they detonated, taking a bit of the fog away with them. "If the fogs a problem, we just need to clear it right?" Crusch nodded and proceeded to use her wind magic to help clear the fog as well.

"Crusch-sama, we are preparing the Evil repelling stones, nya…"  
"Excellent, release them whenever ready!"

Felix nodded and left to inform the group, Crusch continued to clear of the fog bit by bit, then Wilhelm suddenly appeared, with his platoon. "Forgive me for my haste, Crusch-sama…" "Group report?" "Two injured, no casualties as of now"

"Good, we need to regroup before-"

They heard a high-pitched screech, it wasn't as loud as the one before but it was most definitely loud, Subaru closed off his ears but they did nothing, "What is this!?" He looked back to where Felix and the others were, and he saw several soldiers on the ground, scratching at themselves, punching the ground, clearly not right in the head. "Oi! Ferris, what's happening!?" Subaru called out.

"Mana intoxication, it's attacking our gates through the mist, it seems to affect people differently"  
"So some people are immune?"  
"Resistant would be the better word, nya…"

Subaru looked around and saw that the people who were unaffected were helping the healers with the people who were affected, they were open and vulnerable, "Looks like it's our time to shine Patrasche…" Subaru said while glancing at this ground dragon, she gave an understanding huff.

"Crusch-san! I'll go distract it while Ferris and the rest treat the affected!"  
"Wait, Subaru!?"

"Anyone who can move! Get the injured to the base of the tree! If you can't move then stay where you are until someone comes!" Subaru said as he Patrasche goes straight into the cloud, "One more time, work with me here… I can Return by D-" Once again, the world turned dark, the shadowy hands wrapped around his heart and grasped it, he could feel the air leaving his lungs. He felt a weight pressing against his body, and a whispery voice by the side of his ears. "You…" was all he could make out.

"Gah!" He snapped back to reality, he could feel the stench increasing around him, the hard part starts now. "Come out, come out, wherever you are little fishy!" He could feel himself being stared at through the fog, "Uhu… getting a really bad feeling about this…"

Suddenly from beside them, the whale appeared, it's mouth gaped open, ready to swallow them whole. "Nee-chan!" "Let's go!" From the other side, Mimi and Hetaro appeared on their Rigers, grabbing the other's hands, they released a shockwave similar to the one the whale did before it attacked with the fog, but this one seemed more powerful, possibly because they infused their voices with mana.

Patrasche made a quick turn, and dashed away while the two siblings kept on attacking the whale. "Now we just gott-" Suddenly the whale appeared right in front of them, taking Subaru and Patrasche by surprise. They couldn't turn fast enough so they tried to at least stop but the whale just kept on going forward, "SHIIIT!"

"RAAAGH!"

Wilhelm appeared from the side and stabbed at it's eyelid, making it turn away, giving Subaru just enough time to turn directions.

Ricardo rode up to Subaru with Hetaro and Mimi, "Weren't you two just fighting the whale?" "We were, Subaru-san" "But I just got attacked by it after I rode away… something's up, don't let your guard down, this may be another one of it's abilities. From the ,fog Wilhelm appeared and went to regroup with them, "Wilhelm-san!" "Subaru-dono, the whale does seem to be losing it's composure, it's getting slower and seems to fight back less now, once we get the fog ou…"

"Then it's smooth sailing from there, then let's do this!" Subaru said while he pumped his fists up in the air, the other four doing the same, "Ready! Fire!" he could hear Crusch shout out in the distance, that's one hell of a loud voice she has, Subaru thought. "Hah, looks like the stones are out!" Ricardo said.

Suddenly, Subaru heard several explosions in the air, the fog immediately started to subside, clearing the path for the army to attack once again, but they were all frozen still, "You've gotta be… fucking… kidding me…" High in the sky, there they were, not one, not two, but three whales, all ready to fight back.

* * *

 **A/N**

Okay, thought I could fit everything in this one chapter, but let's not rush things like I did with Warlock… Also, the original was basically a copy paste of the anime, which i'm sure felt a little bit bland for you guys right? Gonna do a little bit more changing here and there and gonna take your suggestion s from the original Forgive me to account!

So it's been two whole months huh… guess i've been studying my ass off too much and neglected to finish this remake, but it's okay, we'll finish it before the month ends… hopefully… So anyway, I got new for yall, gonna give you a [Priorities list] which essentially tells me what to update first, it goes this way:

1\. Warlock  
2\. Forgive me  
3\. -  
4\. Re-Watch

Number three is an upcoming fanfic which I'll start after Forgive me's done, so there's that.

Decide that i'll drop Perpetual promise for now, didn't find the plot points satisfactory, so i'll postpone it longer, maybe until i'm finished with Warlock, as it needs a lot of attention. Warlock planning is doing fine, planned three arcs ahead, and a few side stories as well.

Anyway, Monday's my Chemistry exam so i'm gonna have to blast my ass off with practice so wish me luck and good health cause i'm going into a battlefield… and I don't have RBD like Su-boy here, so yeah…

1 to 2 weeks update speed so wait for me kay?


	6. Chapter 6: The Second Hurdle

**Upload date: 6/1/2018**

 **Forgive Me [Arc 3] - Remade**

 **.**

 **Chapter 6: The Second Hurdle**

* * *

"You've gotta be kidding me…"

Up the in the sky, the worst case scenario has been revealed to Subaru and his group, three whales, all floating in the sky, leering down at them with a bloodlust like feeling. Some people fell to their knees, some wept with closed eyes, some wailed, some had lifeless looks in their eyes. To sum it all up, they felt like ants about to be stepped on.

Subaru could see a shadow in front of him, kneeling on the ground, begging, 'Turn back, there's no way we can do it now, it's impossible, just run away!' It was himself, begging. The situation was so dire, his fear manifested itself into a hallucination.

One of the whales swooped down on them while they were still their shocked state, thus none of them were able to dodge in time. It opened up its gaping mouth, fog forming its mouth, we were going to be erased. Being the first to snap out of it, Subaru dashed forward and dumped all his earth gems down, they erupted into a large stone whale and the fog was completely halted.

"Spread out!" Subaru yelled while getting back on Patrasche. They quickly dashed away, the whale swooped down and narrowly missed them, "No way we're giving up right now! I've got friends that need saving so I'm gonna kill you right here right now!" Subaru screamed while hurling two light gems at the that passed them, exploding right at its eye. Subaru had blinded it.

"WAAAH!"  
"HAAA!"

The twins then attacked next. Two energy waves were blasted towards the whale from above, and was finally grounded! "Ya! The parties only just started!" Next came Ricardo and Wilhelm, jumping straight at the whale and slicing at it. It wailed in pain as it rolled around, bleeding it's insides out.

"Crusch-san!"  
"Subaru! Our situation looks dire, what do you think happened?"  
"I'm not sure myself, but I thought only one whale existed?"  
"Well, that much is true, there must be some sort of trick to this"

They watched the remaining two whales as they circled the army, one was suspiciously high in the air, while the other was about to swoop down. Crusch reacted instantly, she whipped the reins, her ground dragon rushed over to the scene, her sword ready to strike.

The troops were down on there knees at the base of the tree, staring at the beast as it opened up its mouth, shooting out it's fog straight at them, "Don't give up!" Shouted Crusch as she slashed the fog away with her Hundred man strike. The slash stopped before it could reach the whale, and so it continued to dive down for them.

Just then, two fire crystals were shot up in the air and exploded, grabbing the whale's and all the troops attention. "The baits right here you big old fish!" He whipped the reins and Patrasche was off in the other direction, the whale frantically changing its course and following Subaru, "Wilhelm-san! Giant sushi, coming right up!"

Subaru lead the whale away from the rest and from the side, Wilhelm ambushed it, stabbing his sword at it's eye, but narrowly missing it. It screamed in pain and tried to snap at Wilhelm but Subaru threw out another fire gem and got it's attention once again, leading it further away from Crusch and the injured.

The others watched on as the two dragged the whale around in circles, all the while chipping of at its hide, "Watch, that young man has absolutely no experience in the battlefield, from the beginning, if anyone was to fall, I expected him to be the first! But look, out of all of us, he's the one who's shouting the loudest, he's the one trying his best, he should be dead long ago, but he refused! He isn't anything special, so why is he the only one? Why are we, the one who's been suffering the most from its existence, lying on the ground in defeat!?"

The others stared wide-eyed at Crusch's speech, some burst into tears as they cursed their cowardice. Subaru who's been listening from afar couldn't help but sigh as he thought to himself, 'Watching your loved ones die is one thing, but watching them die multiple times, while their right in front of you? While your unable to do anything… that might be the reason why I'm able to stand up now…' "Wilhelm-san! Take its horn!" Wilhelm leapt up and did as Subaru said. Unsheathing a second sword, he cleanly cut through the whales horn, the purple ring on its head fade and disappeared. He landed safely on his ground dragon and the two of them ran away as the whale started to fall down.

Subaru and Wilhelm went back to check on Crusch and the others, the one that Ricardo and the siblings were taking care off seem to have broken loose of its bounds and rushed straight for them, both it's eyes were gone so it used Subaru's scent to trial them "Crusch-san!" Crusch unleashed another Hundred man Strike, this one was bigger than the last and cut the whales horn in half, all the while digging through its skull. It then suddenly faded away, as if it was mist.

"Did we stop it?" One of the soldiers asked, "They are clones…" Subaru said, "Clones of the one that's staying away in the air, the clones only have a third of the whales original power" They all looked at the whale floating in the sky, it was high in the air, circling around Flugel's tree. It let out a screech and suddenly, two more whales appeared and dived down.

Subaru and Crusch clicked their tongues while Wilhelm sharpened his gaze, "We can't do anything unless we take care of the one up there, it's the original, I'm sure of it... " Subaru said while he got off of Patrasche. Crusch replied, "It seems most likely but Subaru… it is currently out of reach for my Hundred man Strike and our cannons would be less effective at that distance…" "Oh, I have a plan alright… but it's an ugly one…"

* * *

"Troops, Fire!"

As one of the whales descended, the cannons shot out a barrage of fire gems aimed right at its horn. The whale maneuvered away but was met with a volley of attacks by the Fangs of Irons. The other one was being diverted away by the siblings and Wilhelm. The whale tried to shake them off by descending lower to the ground but that was when Ricardo jumped up with his Riger and chopped off it's horn, making it plummet to the ground.

While everyone was busy dealing with the whale, Felix and several other healers were dealing with the injured. As Felix was healing someone's injured foot, he saw several mages walk over to the base of the tree, away from where they were. "Something's happening nya…"

"AHH!"

A loud scream and everyone turned the other way, one of the whales were charging straight for them, Crusch came over and prepared another Hundred man Strike, but the whale was able to barely dodge the invisible blade of wind and opened up its mouth, ready to shoot out another blast of mist, Crusch tried to muster up another strike but she was low on mana, she then screamed, "Get up and run!"

The healers helped the injured onto their feet and started to run, however, it proved futile as the whale was already blasting it's mist at them. Crsuch concentrated all her mana into her blade and pointed it at the mist, "Ul-Fula!" a blast of wind shot out from the tip of her blade, heading straight for the mist, though it was only a fraction of its size, capable of protecting only Crusch herself, that was when it collided with something midway, a shattering sound was heard and then a whole section of air was frozen, making an ice wall that protected everyone from the mist.

Crusch looked at it wide-eyed as she struggled to stand up, she glanced to the top of the tree where the ice gems seemed to have fallen from and she saw Subaru, giving shooting them a thumbs up with a wide grin. "Hmph, you never cease to surprise me… Natsuki Subaru!" The others shouted out screams of gratitude and relief, some went right back into battle while others went to help the injured heal up.

Subaru had managed to climb up the tree and was hanging on a branch, "Man, this new spell is helpful… but it doesn't help with heights this big…" He glanced down and started feeling dizzy, being a few hundred feet above the ground can do that to you. "Right…" He pulled himself up the branch and stood up, "Gotta get to the other side of this tree… and also gotta bring you with me" He then glanced over to the unoccupied whale, to his surprise, it stared right back at him.

"Hello there creepy…"

The whales red eyes looked deep into Subaru and as if a switch was flipped, it went on a rush, straight for him, its mouth wide open, mist forming, ready to be shot out. "Shit!" Subaru looked around for a near branch but the nearest one was too far to jump across with Murak alone, as he feared the only possibility to jump down and retry, he reached into his sack of magic gems and brought out two wind gems, "Time to get out of here Ram style!" He threw the wind gems down at his feet and casted Murak, they detonated and the blast of wind broke off the branch he was on all the while propelling him forward. Just as he was blasted forward, the mist hit the tree, boring a hole straight through it.

"That was close!"

Subaru kept on jumping from branch to branch as the whale followed from the outskirts of the tree, once he reached the other side, he dumped the contents of the sac out to the side, keeping one wind gem with him just incase, the gems exploded right as the whale made contact with them and blasted into an array of different colors, a signal for the ones at the bottom.

"Your coming with me!"

Subaru then leapt down from the tree, deactivating his spell in order to gain speed. The whale let out a screech as it watched Subaru fall, "I can Return by De-" Shadows started to expulse out of Subaru's body, filling the world with darkness. Time went to a halt as his senses numbed out. In front of him, there was a distortion, it was almost human shaped, he couldn't see it but he felt a hand reach towards his heart. 'Love…' whispered a voice.

In an instant the shadows retracted and time resumed, Subaru winced in pain as an ominous aura shrouded him. The whale reacted instantaneously, letting out a sudden screech, then diving down after Subaru. He gave the whale a smug look as he descended. Subaru looked over the ground for his ground dragon, Patrasche was coming in close but Subaru was already nearing ground, "She won't make it in time!" Subaru threw his remaining wind gem to the ground and the blast lifted him back into the air for a few seconds, giving enough time for Patrasche to catch him by the collar.

She swung him back onto her saddle and speeded off, the whale slammed face first into the dirt, causing a the ground to slightly tremor. Nevertheless, it got up, ever so staggeringly, and chased the two past the tree, that's when Subaru called out to Crusch and she shouted, "FIRE!" One side of the base of the tree was blasted apart and the whole thing leaned down to the whale, Subaru made Patrasche do a sharp turn to get behind the tree and was he reached there with the others, Crusch let out a final strike, a huge and sharp snapping sound was heard and the tree fell down, falling down right at the whale.

It let out a horrid screech as the tree crushed it's insides. Soon enough, the clones started to fade away, grabbing everyone's attention.

.

Everyone surrounded the whale, Wilhelm stepping up for the last and final blow. He drew out two of his swords and started to rush forwards, spinning around, attacking it with a flurry of slices and with a final stab to its head, the battle was over. The other two whales had completely disappeared, everyone then cheered loudly, celebrating the defeat of the Hakugei. Wilhelm seemed to be shouting out something but the cheering drowned out his voice but Subaru knew it was something about his wife.

* * *

Subaru stood there beside Patrasche, looking off into the distant sunrise, his smile faded as he remembered he still had things to do. As he turned around, he was approached by Crusch, Wilhelm, and Felix, all with ecstasic looks on their faces. "It was a great battle Natsuki Subaru, we thank you for your participation, none of this would have been possible without your aid" The three of them bowed down to Subaru, who could only chuckle nervously at the sign of gratitude.

"Your welcome… to be honest, things went better than I thought it would, in the end anyway…" Subaru walked over to them and watched the warriors celebrating, "Though our casualties were minimized, casualties are still casualties, there are some that were erased from existence, some lost their lives in the final dash, but they all fought their hardest until the end…" Crusch said, the other three nodded. "Nothing could have been done to minimize them even further…"

"Still, Subaru-kyun's quick thinking got us out of there while we were in a pinch, how'd you think of it nya?" Felix asked out of curiosity, "Ah, well, I've had a few close calls before so I guess I just I kinda rolled with it…" Subaru said while scratching the back of his head with a grin, though that grin only lasted for a few seconds as his face turned serious once more. The other three caught glimpse of it and Crusch asked, "You still have things to do don't you?" he nodded, "You'd like some help?" "If it's not too much to ask…"

"Then, why don't you make use of this old man…" Wilhelm said while kneeling down to Subaru, shocking him a bit, "On this day, I have incurred a great debt to you, so please, allow me to return the favor…" Crusch then stepped up, "Take Ferris and half of the uninjured, together with Wilhelm and the Fangs of Irons, it should be enough to deal with the threat your facing" Subaru could only bow to them, "Thank you, your help is very much appreciated"

"No thanks needed, we are all indebted to you, it's the least we can do…" Crusch said as she gave her hand for a handshake, "Until we next meet, Natsuki Subaru…" "Yeah" He accepted her hand with gratitude and they shared a firm handshake.

"Now, I shall be going back with the injured and the Hakugei carcasses, your welcome to visit the Karsten estate once everything is settled with"

"Then I'll take you up on your offer…"

* * *

After waving them goodbye, Subaru and the remaining waited for backup to arrive. While they were at it, Felix decided to bring up some small talk, "So Subaru-kyun, how exactly are we going to deal with the witch cult nya?" "To be honest, I'm not sure myself, we just ambush them while we have the chance, and quickly dispatch of them, their leader has a terrifying ability that I'm not sure of yet, so the faster we take care of them, the better…"

"Wise choice Subaru-dono…"

"Ah, yeah, Subaru-kyun, you said you've had a few close calls before, Ferri-chan wants to here about them nya"  
"Well… there was the first time I met Emilia, a guthunter was going to kill us, if it weren't for Reinhard, then there was the mabeast incident back in the Irlham village, Rem kinda saved my ass back there, and there was the other time I had a run in with the whale and the cult"

"A terrifying thing to be experiencing, your eyes don't lie, Subaru-dono"

Wilhelm's remark confused Subaru a bit, but he didn't pay any mind to it. In the distance, the backup group was approaching. Several Fangs of Iron members came into view, one was a little kitten demihuman, one of the Pearlbaton Siblings Subaru thought, but there was one more that stood out, and it was, "Julius… why am I not surprised at all?"

He was on his blue ground dragon, riding with his royal guards uniform, with a smile on his face, every bit ticked Subaru off. "Decided to come late to the show? Julius" "Please, a knight must never lower themselves to the level of a mercenary… for the time being, I shall be known as Juli… the mercenary"

Subaru could only click his tongue as Julius brushed his bangs, "Subaru… are you alright?" "Yeah, completely fine, a whales not going to get the better of me" Julius sighed, "I was talking about your wounded pride… but it's good to know that your still fired up for the next battle"

"My pride? I threw all that away to bring all this together" Memories of past loops flashed through his mind, "I've had to raise my voice to a woman as well, haah, just hope this all pays off in the end" "A man who spouts out whatever is in his mind, you haven't changed one bit since we last met have you"

Julius chuckled a bit, but Subaru sighed and bowed to him, shocking him and Felix greatly, "Thank you for coming to aid in this battle, even after what had happened in the royal castle. I admit that what I had done was wrong, I had acted according to my emotions and it caused me and you both inconvenience…"

Felix and Julius stared at him, dumbstruck at what they were hearing, "Nya… I guess even Subaru-kyun can be considerate…" "Don't get me wrong though, I am in the wrong, this doesn't mean I hate you any, less you got that?" Subaru said with his usual scowl which made Julius laugh a bit, "Of course, I wasn't expecting you to like me at all, nevertheless, I accept your apology"

"Seriously, you could've at least taken it easy on me!"  
"Well, I was going easy on you"  
"Okay, now I really hate you!"

After more laughter, the group went to the base of the tree to discuss their plans for the next battle. The sun rose up, showering them in the morning glimmer, a new dawn has emerged for our hero. As the first hurdle has been overcome, the second one has appeared, the final obstacle to his happy ending.

* * *

 **A/N**

 **Been slacking on the chapter updates, sorry... so we've got about 3 chapters left. The whale battle was heavily altered if you can't already tell, all to make it a more interesting read. Next is a Re-Fantasy Interlude in Ram's POV, so get excited for that I guess. Now im going to study for my economics IGs so see you in a bit!**


	7. Chapter 7: Slothfulness

**Uploading date: 8/17/2018 [M/D/Y]**

 **Forgive Me [Arc 3] - Remade**

 **.**

 **Chapter 7: Slothfulness**

* * *

Everyone has gathered around, all ecstasic on the defeat of the white whale. Subaru was in the center of it all, getting ready to speak up, "Everyone, I thank you all for participating… this victory couldn't have been achieved without all of your hard work and determination, rejoice!" Everyone raised up their fists and yelled their battle cries, and once it all died down, Subaru got serious, "That's what I'd like to say… but I've still got a score to settle with the witch cult that happily fell into our grasp…"

Their gazes turned dark, harsh may the truth be, the final battle has only just begun, half of the uninjured had been given to aid Subaru and all of the Fangs of Iron as well. Subaru was going to continue when suddenly, a small little hand raised up, "Sorry for interrupting, but we were only tasked with the blockade and acting as reinforcements for the white whale, and I don't see how the witch cult and the white whale are connected"

 _Bonk Bonk_

"Geeez! You're always so fussy about the details, if you can't trust them then trust Mimi!" The little hand retracted in pain as a staff bounced off his head. "O-Onee-chan!" Tivey, the last of the three Pearlbaton triplets, retorted out in pain. Ricardo could only chuckle at their antics while the others sigh. Subaru then comes up, "I can't really say there's any definite proof, but that doesn't really matter… Crusch gave me half of hers and I'm paying for your service you know?"

"O-Oh… then that dispels my doubt…"

Tivey sat back down, and handed Subaru all their attention, "We're all headed towards the Mather's domain, there's a village near the mansion in which Emilia is situated in, first things first, we're going to evacuate all of them… as for the cult, they've been sighted in a cave east of the village. We act fast and strike before they have a chance to notice!"

They all stood up and shouted out their battle cries once more, "We've lost many people during this subjugation, many whom, we don't even remember! But from onwards, we won't lose anyone else! We'll make it back alive!" Subaru declares while pumping his fists into the air, everyone doing the same, and in time, they were on the road.

* * *

The forest was pretty quiet, nothing but the rumbling of leaves, and the sound of blood splattering on the ground, "Stay silent ya hear? Can't have em knowing our location" Ricardo said as he swiftly sliced down another running witch cultist. The rest of the Iron Fangs currently with him nodded and split off.

"We'll leave the big ones to you, boy" Ricardo whipped the reins of his Riger and left, back into the forest, sniffing out more witch cultists.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the forest, Subaru was walking, alone, "This place doesn't really evoke good memories…" He has gone down this path once, well, he was being dragged over here by witch cultists back then, it hurt a lot, he'll get his revenge right now.

The rustling of bushes caught his ear, he felt shadows creeping in every corner of the forest, just like moths to lights, Subaru thought to himself. The shadows from the forest concentrated into circles of darkness and from them, witch cultists appear, one by one. "Do I smell that bad?" Subaru joked around. The witch cultists bowed to him, something they did the first time he returned to the mansion, it surprised Subaru just a tad bit but he kept his composure.

"Take me to your leader… is kinda cliche, so let's go with lead me the way please?" Subaru asks them, in a rather polite tone, despite his heart being filled to the brim with hatred. The cultists point deeper into the forest, Subaru followed their line of sight, and somewhere past the shrubbery, he could make out an opening, "Okay, that should do" He snapped his hands, and as if they could read his mind, they disappeared out of sight.

"Woah… didn't think they'd actually go away…"

As he got closer, he felt watchful eyes, not the eyes of the cult, more, the eyes of his comrades, it was comforting, knowing someone was backing you up. He pushed through all the bushes and leaves, making it to the clearing on the other side. This was definitely the place, though he didn't have a good look at it last time, he knew this was exactly the place, he instinctively knows, cause one of, if not, the most traumatizing scene had happened right here, in this place.

"Ahh~ You do not know how long I've been waiting for you… Desu!"

In the mouth of the cave, stood a man, a man Subaru had scorned till his death. The way he hates this man wasn't like how he hates Julius, that was merely just because they were incompatible, the hatred he feels for this man wasn't like how he hated the whale, that was merely just an animal acting on instinct, the way he despises this man wasn't like how he despised Elsa, while she mercifully ends her opponents with a fatal strike, this man goes the extra mile, twisting his victims limbs, breaking their necks, crushing their bones. The man Subaru hates the most, his name was-

"Betelgeuse… Romanee-Conti…"

Subaru muttered aloud, enough for the man in clerical attire to hear him, and once he did, his eyes widened, to the fact that it could be considered inhuman. "Ah~ For you to already know my name, I'm truly honored… Desu!" The man exclaims while he does a bow that could practically break one's spine. No matter how much he hates this man, he has to stay calm, no matter how much he has to buy time for the rest to prepare.

"Thanks for waiting, I was kinda busy so it took some time, did you wait long?" Subaru asked the madman, in all honesty, he hasn't a single clue what he's talking about, he's just going with the flow. Subaru starts to walk closer to the cave entrance, Betelgeuse literally on his toes, "For you to have the scent this strong on you… I'd never doubt that you were Pride! Desu!" he maniacally spouts out.

Subaru heard about it from Julius and Wilhelm, the Witch cult has seven cardinals, all representing a sin, and apparently, Betelgeuse is sloth, or so he's been told. As for what he's seen, it doesn't really support the claim, "You're the Cardinal of Sloth if I'm not mistaken, right Bete-san?" Subaru nonchalantly asks the green haired man.

"Ah~ Even if you do know my name in advance, it's still very rude to not to do a proper introduction… Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti, Sin Archbishop of Sloth of the Witch cult, a pleasure to meet you, Desu!" He spouted out while doing his inhuman bow once more, it crept Subaru beyond compare, but he managed to hold a straight face.

"Guess it'd be wrong to keep you waiting… Natsuki Subaru… and as you said… I'm Pride…" He replies with his own introduction, a false one to add. He hesitated a bit at the end, not sure if the others are going to catch what he's trying to do, he'll just have to trust them the best he can, if he can't, well, he's basically dead in front of all these cultists.

"Such a strange name you have… ah, but it is befitting of your title! And so is your looks, the fact that you weren't humble, Ahh~ how prideful you are, such pride you have inside you! Your pride of loving the witch is slithering all around you! Ahhh, but I must not lose, my slothiness must get the better of me! It mustn't happen! Desu!"

Betelgeuse went on with his ramblings, about how he was slothful and how Subaru was filled with Pride, are all witch cultists like this, Subaru thought to himself. All of a sudden, Betelgeuse slammed his head into the wall, screaming out in frustration, making Subaru, and a couple of other witch cultists beside him flinch.

"Ahh~ I've been so slothful! He even went as far as to find out my name! And I've been taking the leisure of waiting here, not thinking even once to do research about the person I was waiting for! How slothful! I'm slothful! Slothful! Slothful! Slothful!"

He kept on slamming his head to the wall, pulling out strands of his hair out, repeating out "Slothful!" It struck Subaru in awe, this guy is beyond diligent, the punishments he can put on himself is amazing. "Yo Bete-san, I'd stop that if I were you, breaking down if front of a fellow Cardinal, where is your pride at, huh?" Subaru asks, in a supercilious tone. Since Betelgeuse was spouting nonsense about sloth, he thought that it would be fitting if he was Pride, he also did a sharp glare, taking advantage of his sanpaku eyes.

"Ah! You truly are Pride! Desu! Please forgive me for losing my composure so suddenly!"

"This guy is too gullible…" Subaru whispered to himself. "But… now, with you here, we can finally commence with the trial! Desu!" He said while gleefully playing with his fingers, trying to get as much information from the madman as possible, Subaru questions him, "Trial? I wasn't told anything about this?"

"In that case, let me explain! Desu… In order to commence with the revival of our beloved witch, we have set out to find a suitable vessel for her! And with the announcement of a silver haired half-elf competing in the royal election, we've all been ecstatic! Such a perfect, pure vessel, it's only destiny that she's to take the trial! Whether she is suitable to host the witches soul is up to the trial, if she passes, then we will have the witch enter the world once more through her!"

"And if she fails the trial...?"

"Then… we discard of the vessel, as it will be proved to be imperfect! Desu!" He screamed out in pleasure, Subaru is hating this man even more by the second. They thought of only the witch, everything else is secondary, though, this is normal in cults, to them, the witch is a deity or some sort of saviour, but they've been blinded by that sentiment that they forgot what the witch actually was, a monster, one that destroyed half the world centuries ago.

"I see…" His voice spat out, seeping with rage, but he contained it, he shouldn't let it get out of control, "Now, fellow cardinal! Please show my your proof of love, your gospel!" He said, while arching his back into a rather painful position. He's been told by the others, every cultist receives a gospel upon invitation to the witch cult, it's a sort of holy prophecy book that guides you in live, Subaru had no such thing on his person, except for that book he borrowed from Crusch's library the day before.

"Guess it's a good time now… I'll bring it over, give me a second…" Subaru turns around and puts his hands in his pockets, the other cultists looked at him confused and then Subaru made an abrupt stop in front of two bushes and then he turned back and gave off a victorious smile, "Taste our sneak attack!"

"HAA!"  
"AAAAH!"

From the bushes, two shadows leaped. They both shouted at the top of their voices and set loose a destructive shockwave at the mouth of the cave, hitting its ceiling and collapsing it, all the cultists were now either crushed by the rocks or trapped within the cave, all but one remained, Betelgeuse. "Ahhh…"

He just stared dumbstruck at what had just happened, but he snapped back into reality when Subaru started to walk towards him, "Let me reintroduce myself… Natsuki Subaru, self-proclaimed knight of the silver haired half-elf! The man who's gonna crush all your dreams! Remember me done in the pits of despair Betelgeuse!"

After his stunning second introduction, Betelgeuse bit on his own fingers in frustration, "Knight! KNIGHT!" Betelgeuse screamed out, his eyes bulging, he was losing it. "Wilhelm-san! Finish this off!" A shadow leaped from the top of the cave. Betelgeuse looked behind him and there he was, with a sword ready to slice Betelgeuse in half.

"Cur-"

Before he could mutter anything else, he was chopped up in half, all that's left is a bloody corpse, cut in half near the stomach region. "Hah, good job Wilhelm-san, looks like that was enough to finish the job…" Subaru said as he walked towards the old butler, Mimi, and Tivey following shortly behind him.

"It wouldn't have been possible without your help, Subaru-dono, you really did have him fooled there"  
"Yah! Your acting is soo good Onii-san, you almost had Mimi there for a second! Hey, you'd be pretty good in a theatre don't you think?"

Subaru could only scratch his head at Mimi's roundabout compliment, she and Tivey were looting the corpse, they really were mercenaries, weren't they. "But didn't he say he was a self-proclaimed knight? He said it rather proudly too…" Tivey quietly mutters out, but not quiet enough to evade Subaru's ears, "Hey I heard that! And I'll be a fully fledged knight to Emilia-tan, someday…!"

The two ignored him and kept going with their plundering, wriggling inside the cloak of the corpse, "Oooh~ What's this…" From one of the pockets, Tivey takes out a book, donned in black patterns and several patchworks, it was definitely and old book, but it was kept at good condition, must have been something important.

"Hmm, it smells bad… and everything written inside is just gibberish…"  
"Huh, that might be the Gospel Betelgeuse was talking about, something about your proof of love"

"KYAA!"

Tivey freaks out and tosses the bock over, it reaches over to Mimi, and she flails it over Subaru's way, with no room to dodge the shot, he caught it with his hands, fumbling a little bit. "Geez what's with you guys, it's just a book…" Opening and looking over the contents, it truly was gibberish, it was neither japanese alphabets nor this worlds glyphs, a completely unknown language, maybe one created by the cult?

"What are you doing?!"  
"Don't look at it!"

The two kitties hid behind Wilhelm, terrified, "You guys fought a giant whale but you're scared of a dusty old book?" Subaru flipped through the pages some more, there really wasn't anything readable here. Now knowing that, he stores the gospel in his pocket, hoping that he could inspect it some more later on.

The four of them made their way to the village, after making sure that all that was left of the cultists, were mearely just ashes. Julius, Ferris and the other soldiers sent by Crusch had already reached the village, bringing along with them several merchants Anastasia had gotten into contact with, it seems preparations for the evacuation were starting, they could all hear the bustling from the village.

* * *

Subaru and the other three entered the village through the front gates, Subaru wearing Emilia's identity nullifying cloak in case Emilia happened to be at the scene. Once they reached there, however, only Ram was present, no sign of Emilia anywhere, it put Subaru at ease, "This should go around smoothly…"

Subaru removed his cloak, and waved over to Ram, who could only scoff at him. They all got off and greeted one another, when it was Subaru's turn, Ram said, "Emilia-sama could still be somewhere around the corner, Barusu, taking off that cloak this early is just foolish…" Subaru nervously laughed as he realized his mistake, "Ah, but you're here so Emilia won't have to come right? Hah, I can always count on you, Ram!"

Subaru put his hands up for a high five but Ram just turns around, ignoring him, "About Rem… you're going to apologize aren't you?" She says while glancing back at him, "Ah… yeah, sorry… guess I just told her to come back without really explaining anything now didn't I, wait she's not here is she…?"

"Fortunately not, she's waiting in the mansion with Emilia-sama, though she could drop by at any time…"

"Well, then I'd better make a run for it when that happens," Subaru said while scratching the back of his head, the two of them proceeded into the village, where the preparations were going on. They made it to Julius and Ferris who were in the village square, discussing the situation with the village elder. Once they were done, they turned their attention to Subaru, looking rather relieved.

"Since your here well and alive, I'm taking that their leader has already been taken care of?"

"Yep, they fell for it hook, line and sinker!" Subaru said while snickering. Felix replied with a thumbs up while Julius nods, "So all that's left is the underlings -nya?" Subaru replied with a "That's right" Once their boss was taken down, they were expected to all scatter around in panic, that was the initial plan so things should go smoothly from here on out.

"Then, since my job here is done, I might as well join in"

Julius said while resting his hand onto the hilt of his sword, Felix drooped down, mostly at the fact that he is of no use in the frontlines, "Guess being a lady has it's downfalls too -nya…" She says while sliding his feet over to where Ram was, "Ferris-sama, being a lady doesn't necessarily prevent one from fighting…" she says, as if trying to console the downed cat-eared knight.

"Nya… Ram-chyan is so kin-"  
"The only thing stopping you is that you are weak…"  
"Nya?!"

What seemed to be consolation just ended up with a brutal insult, however true it was, "Ah, don't mind Ram, Ferris. She'll diss anyone that isn't Roswaal or Ram, and I guess Emilia as well…" Ferris falls to the ground, having taken a huge blow from Ram. "The fact that you're not actually participating in the frontlines shows that you might even be weaker than Barusu… Ram didn't think it would be physically possible for something like that to happen…"

"Oi, Nee-sama, that's a little harsh don't you think? On me that is…"

"Weaker than Subaru-kyun… nyo! I won't accept this, nya! Ram-chyan, you take that back n- Where are you going nya!" Ram had already walked away from the conversation midway, Ferris ran away to catch up to her, Julius and Subaru just watching from the back. "Will those two be okay?" Julius asked Subaru, rather worried. "Nah, don't worry, if anything, Ferris would probably be on his knees before he could even touch Ram, she's terrifying…" Subaru replied while shaking.

"Scary…"

* * *

Ricardo and the rest of the Fangs of Iron had returned shortly after, having killed a handful of cultist, and after taking a little rest, they all departed once more, this time, with Julius and Subaru accompanying them. Being bait isn't a calming job, Subaru knows that now. Everyone was surrounding him, ready to slice anything that gets past them, right now, he is the most important piece, losing him could mean the battle to them.

"Even so… I can't help but feel even more powerless like this…"

"You shouldn't worry yourself with trivial things Subaru, lift your head up and stay prepared" Subaru only grumbled at Julius's remark, Subaru wanted to be the protector, not the protected, but reality sure is hard to take in. Subaru heard sudden rustling in the bush, followed with an ominous feeling, one that made him react instantly, "EVERYONE GET DOWN!"

Ricardo grabs both Mimi and Tivey and hurls himself to the ground, Julius unsheathes his blade swiftly and ducks down, ready to strike, Subaru hastily throws a fire gem over to the rustling bushes, but it burst midair, as if something stopping it. "Impossible… didn't we kill him already!?" He motioned everyone to step back but a few didn't react fast enough and were grabbed by an invisible force.

Subaru eyes widened in despair as three of their men were flung into the air, the others looked on shocked but ready for another attack nonetheless, but their composure deteriorated when the men were stretched out in half, blood leaking out of their bodies. Julius waved his sword in front of Subaru, not having the slightest intention of letting anyone get to him, but it was futile.

"MGH!"

Subaru felt something covering his move, it was the same invisible force that grabbed the others, he was only able to nudge Julius, with the invisible force pulling him back. "Subaru!?" Instantly reacting, Julius tries to slice at whatever was behind Subaru, but it didn't work. Before he could do so, something shot him back, really far back. Subaru leg was grabbed and he was dragged straight into the forest.

"Captain!"

Mimi shouted out, and Ricardo reacted quickly. Putting his fingers in for a whistle, he orders his Riger to follow Subaru, and it did so with tremendous speed, but it was nearly blasted apart halfway, its body was slammed to a tree by the explosion, two cultists were stopping them in their tracks, "Little shits!"

.

Subaru was dragged through the forest and near to a pond where he was pinned onto a tree, rather forcefully, that's gotta hurt. "Tch… and just when I thought I had the upper hand…" From the forest, a hooded figure came walking in, giggling, the voice of a woman, Subaru thought. "You truly are slothful Pride… you had me for a second, but your pride has blinded you! Desu!" The woman in front of him was undoubtedly Betelgeuse, but how, he has no idea, he'll bluff for now.

"I'm not sure how you're still alive, Bete-san… I remember destroying all that's left of your body, it makes no sense…"

"Hahaha! My, my, you're so naive, Pride! You've destroyed two fingers with that single move, that puts me at a great disadvantage, but I still have three other fingers! If you want to destroy me completely, you'll have to cut off all my fingers! Desu! But of course, I'll never let you!"

The grip around Subaru's body tightened, and Subaru's face scrunched up in pain, "I wouldn't be laughing all crazy like that right now, that's a really cliche move you know…" Betelgeuse didn't seem to be listening, he just kept up with his maniacal laughter, in his new feminine body, "I'm getting Ferris vibes just looking at you…" Trying to wriggle himself out is impossible, he can't possibly release from this monstrous grip, but he did notice something, a streak of purple going around him, it must be the force keeping him pinned on the tree.

"I didn't really want to use this cause then I'd have to thank Julius… but to hell with that! La, Rental Goa!" From his chest, a little red light appeared and a burst of flames burst out to Betelgeuse, Subaru slid down the tree and quickly got back on his feet, "Hey, that's not bad, nice one, La" Subaru bumps his fist to the spirit as thanks.

"You, Natsuki Subaru!"  
"Yep, that's me, now catch!"

Subaru throws out another fire gem at Betelgeuse who fumbled as he tries to catch it, Subaru shapes his hand into a gun with La on the tip of it, "Goa!" Another burst of flames shot out and this time, it was a direct hit and the caused the fire gem to detonate, blowing up pieces of the woman Betelgeuse had possessed.

"Whew, that was a real pinch right there…"

Subaru wiped out the sweat off his forehead, looking over to La, "You spirits are amazing, aren't you… heh, maybe I should get into a contract with Beatrice? We'd make a pretty good duo… I think…?" Subaru looks over back to where he was dragged from, shouting and blasts could be heard, "Guess we'll have to help them a little…"

Subaru makes his way through the brush, La fading out to rest. As he was about to make to the clearing, a cultist could be seen flying his direction, he shifts his body to the side and lets them pass, their body slammed into a tree, a bone or three might have broken from the sound of it, "Hey watch where you're throwing your enemies!"

Ricardo peeked in from a tree and was glad when he sees Subaru, "Bro! Thought you were a goner there for a sec! Glad you're alright!" He gives Subaru a massive pat on the back, "Ricardo, gather all our remaining troops, I've got new info" Subaru said while making his way to the clearing. "Julius! Tell everyone to fall back, we've got a big problem on our hands!"

.

Everyone was making their way back to the village, all the while, Subaru was explaining to them the news, "He has these cultists he calls fingers, apparently there are five of them, when we killed him the first time, we buried two of them… turns out he can possess these fingers, and he used one to get me that time, La burnt that one so there should be two left, when he possesses one of them, they should be able to use his ability, not sure what it is but it's invisible force that's hard to see, I can see it just little bit that last time so i'll be able to tell if it's coming"

"Since there are two left, they are bound to be far apart, since that's safer for him right?"  
"That's what I think, anyway… but I'm sure the possessed one will target me, I can deal with him alone"

"Are you sure?"

"I've run through these forests before so I've got a good idea of how to trick one of them… brute strength isn't always the best way, and I won't be able to blast him with fire like I did with La again… speaking of which, your spirits are quasi-spirits right? They're not fully fledged spirits yet aren't they? Cause their strong…"

"That might not be because of the spirits but because of your affinity to them… from our duel before, it was obvious your a Yin magic user, so I was thinking of giving you Nes, but I ended up giving you La because she's a bit stronger, though I because of your clashing attributes, I didn't think you would have been able to make La do a full force blast, your spirit affinity may be even greater than mine…"

"Wait, don't you have that spirit divine protection thing? Wouldn't that mean my spirit affinity is much greater than a normal human!?"

"No, my Divine protection of Spirit gathering only makes them more interesting to spirit, so befriending them should be easy, but making a contract requires trust, that's where spirit affinity comes in, a higher affinity means spirits would be more trusting of you, so I wouldn't say yours is higher than average but i'd say that mine is a bit lower"

"That makes sense… I am friends with two gre-"

A blast could be heard from the direction of the village, their eyes widened, the mushroom cloud was large, not as large as the ones Subaru's seen on television, but in this worlds standards, it was pretty large. "They're already attacking the village!" They all rushed over quickly, and made it to the village. The moment they arrived, they met Wilhelm, carrying helping up Ferris, who had his knights uniform burnt and torn pretty badly.

"Ferris! What happened?"

"Nya… there was one among the merchants, Subaru-kyun. Ferri-chan was able to catch him but it was too late…" Felix was bleeding badly, but it seems under control as he was healing himself. They all looked into the village, carnage everywhere, the army was struggling to fight back, and in the corner of his eye, Subaru could see Rem, "Shit… at a time like this...?"

"Subaru?"  
"Julius, I'll borrow La for a little bit longer, tell everyone to go in the defensive!" Subaru said while flicking his hood on, "Where are you going!?" "I have a rough idea of where the last two are going to be, I'll handle those two, you guys just make sure to make the deaths at a minimal!" And with that, Subaru went to the place where Rem was.

.

"Hahaahah! Such devotion, you truly do love this village, don't you! Let us test your love!"

"Shut up! Witch cultist!" Rem swung her morning star towards the cultist, but it seemed to have stopped mid air, then it was flung over at a distance, effectively making Rem unarmed. "Gh!" Rem summoned her horn and glared at the cultist, "Gyaahah! A Demon!? To think that you were a demon!"

Rem snarls at the cultist and rushes forward, but she was simply slammed away without any effort. "Using simple methods won't work on me, young demon!" The cultist lowers herself down and with her hand outstretched, Rem feels danger closing in, but she can't see anything and she was too slow to react, that was when, "Look out!"

Someone grabbed her and rolled out of the way, the house she was behind in was smashed to bits, "Are you alright!" the hooded figure asked Rem, she nodded hesitantly and he helped her up. The hooded man looked over to the cultist and sneered, "Oi, Bete-san… your business is with me, so you'd better leave people out of this, ya got that?"

"Pride… you're still alive!"

The cultist leered at the hooded figure once again, "I'm surprised you know it was me from the get-go, this cloak can hide the user's identity you know?" Her face scrunched up in agony, "I will never again mistaken your smell! Why, why must the witch love you? Someone who doesn't even seek her?" Her hand's stretch out once again, Subaru could see purple streaks coming from behind her, this time, it a little bit more noticeable than last time, "Suba-"

"La, El-Goa!"

From the palm of his hand, a blast of fire shoots out and clashes with the invisible force, canceling each other out. "Excuse me miss but I'm please this one to me, I'm the only one who can see his ability!" Rem nods and flees the scene, the hooded figure looks back at the cultist and sighs, "Now that Rem's gone, I'll have to deal with you myself, Betelgeuse!"

"Natsuki Subaru…!"

Without warning, Subaru dashes his way towards the forest, Betelgeuse instantly going after him from behind. Subaru grabs something from a nearby tree and runs deep, very deep into the forest. Betelgeuse just forcing the trees out of his way. "Too bad Pride, I've cornerned you now! Desu!" Subaru opens up the hood of his cloak and snickers at Betelgeuse.

"Do you know what this is?"

In his hand, was a green crystal, Betelgeuse just stared blankly at it, quite confused, "The fact that you don't know what this is means you've already fallen for my half-assed trap!" Subaru spreads his arms around, showing that the area was now flooding with mabeast, though, it was ones he's never seen before, it seems they have moved here with the extermination of the Ulgrams.

They all leaped for Betelgeuse, ripping his new body limb for limb, there is no way he's escaping that. Subaru swiftly leaves the scene returning the barrier stone back to where it was as he entered the village. It seems with the arrival of Subaru's group, things have gotten under control once more, but there was still some extreme losses.

"Tch, so much for keeping everyone alive…"

Subaru curses himself for not foreseeing this event sooner, he made his way to the busiest part of the village, the square, dust was flung into the air, houses were getting smashed, as Subaru pushed through to see the scene, it was a duel, between Emilia and the final finger, Subaru's eyes were full of dread.

He say the purple streaks dash straight for her, he was about to yell out to her but she suddenly dodged it, for what reason, he doesn't know yet. That was when he concentrated on the field, there was particles of ice everywhere, that was Emilia's doing, and she was using it to find out the trajectory of the attack, she's much more skilled than Subaru can ever imagine.

The battle went on and on until Emilia landed the final blow, she froze the ground and the finger along with it, then Puck comes out to do the honors of breaking the ice. She dealt with the final finger in an extraordinary way, it was bewitching.

"Glad to see you're still alive..."

Julius called from behind, Felix following shortly behind, Subaru turns around shoots them a thumbs up. "Good job, -nya" Just as Subaru was going to continue with their conversation, he heard someone's voice calling from behind him, it was Rem's voice, she must have come to thank me, is what Subaru thinks. He would probably have to reveal himself, but it's all good now, so it doesn't' matt-

"Gh-!"

La was flung away from him, just then an ominous feeling shuddered Subaru's body, it was unlike anything he's felt before, it was someone invading his mind, he knew exactly what this was, "Excuse me-" As Rem calls him, he dashes out to the forest, in the opposite direction.

Rem looked over a little surprised, she might have startled him, that's what she thought. Julius lowered his eyes, something terrible has happened, he could tell once La was forcefully taken out of Subaru, he's fearing for the worst. He and Felix run over to follow Subaru, and Rem, still wanting to thank the hooded Subaru, went with them, leaping a little ahead.

.

"You won't ever leave me won't you…"

Subaru says in a course voice, he was talking to the person who has trespassed into his consciousness, in other words, Betelgeuse himself. 'Running away is futile! Futile! FUTILE! With your body, I'll continue the ordeal, the body that you don't deserve, your body that is loved by the witch!' Subaru grabs his head as he tries not to slip into insanity.

He runs through the forest, stumbling in his steps, trying to force the voice in his head out. "Screw you…!" He stops by a tree, clutching his head in pain that's when he heard footsteps behind him, several of them to be exact, "Um, excuse me…" Rem voice entered his mind. 'No, please leave, leave me alone!' Subaru pleaded to them, even if only in his head.

Just then, Subaru felt like he was disconnected from his body, he was now possessed. He turned around and smiled, Julius, Felix, and Rem were a little on edge by the smile, but then he removed his hood, and Rem screamed, "Subaru-kun!" she was about to lunge at him when both Julius and Felix restrained her, "Rem-chyan! No!"

"But, Subaru-"

"Please look carefully, Rem-dono…" Julius said with a very stern gaze, but it was aimed at Subaru, he just looked back with an eerie smile. Julius unsheathed his sword once more, "Who are you? And what did you do with Subaru?" He giggled, and giggled, "Subaru… Natsuki Subaru… you've made fun of my love, but now, I've conquered you… Natsuki Subaru is no longer! There is only I, Betelgeuse Romanee-Conti, DESU!"

Just then, Julius slashed at his cheek, a small cut bled out. "Bring back Subaru this once!" He placed his hand on the cut, then looks at the blood dripping in his hand, "Pain… Ahhh~ this is fresh pain… lovely pain… This body, is a great body, don't worry… I won't make it go to waste, I'll make sure to push it to its limits while we perform the ordeal…"

"Give back Subaru-kun!"

Rem screamed out, hearing this, he just laughed out maniacally, "You're not getting your Subaru back! I've already taken control, he's never coming back! EVER!" Julius trusts his sword forward, trying to threaten him, but he doesn't seem unfazed one bit, "Ferris?"

"Unfortunately, no sort of magic would be able to work here… the only thing that could save him nyow would be a strong enough spirit, none of you spirits can possess bodies yet and I doubt all of them combined could go against him… we can only hope Subaru-kyun can fight back…"

"HAAAHAHA! Nothing can help you no-" Subaru slammed his own head to a tree, he fell down to the ground, his head bleeding, "Subaru-kun!" Rem rushed over to his side, ready to heal the wound, "No, Rem-dono!" Suddenly, Rem was caught by the neck, not by Subaru's arm, but an invisible force.

"Didn't I tell you… it was futile, hit yourself all you want, you can't make me leave this body!"

Julius was cautious, Rem was now held hostage, the situation was just getting even worse by the second. Subaru, still stripped of all his control, could see the scene unfolding, he saw black hands wrapped around Rem's neck, they were tinted with purple as well, this was Betelgeuse's ability, "Unseen hand! Do you see it now, Natsuki Subaru! I will kill her, and those other two with my authority!:

Through all the cackling, Rem's voice was heard, "Subaru-kun can break through… please, Subaru-kun, hear Rem's voice!" He just kept on cackling, while ever so slightly tightening the grip around her neck. And then, something suddenly ticked, Subaru punched himself and the unseen hands disappeared.

"Subar-"

"SHAMAAAAK!"

Subaru chanted out, and black smoke erupted out of his body, it was unlike any shamak he's done before, it was large enough to engulf all three of them and it could be seen from the village. Subaru leaped out from the black cloud and made a run for it.

* * *

He reached over to a cliff, the same cliff where he jumped off a month ago in one of the loops. He was out of mana, having released it for his ultimate shamak, "You said that if I stopped your fingers… I could kill you… so why are you still alive, Betelgeuse!" He could hear the madman laughing in his head.

'I had already made you into a finger without you knowing, you absorbed the witch genes from my body the moment I died! And since you didn't have a contracted spirit, it made it even easier to take control of your body!"

"Darn it, if I knew I'd have paid Beatrice a visit…"

He could hear footsteps from behind him, they had already caught up to him, 'I'll let you have your final words with them' Betelgeuse tells him, with an added snicker in the end. "Shut your yapping…"

He faces the three of them, holding something on his hand, "Guys… thanks for all you've done, but that's enough, I can't burden you all with my life, so… this is goodbye…" Without warning, Subaru smashed a fire gem on the ground, the cliff side broke apart, with Subaru falling down to a spiked death field.

As he fell, he saw their dreaded faces, but there's nothing that can be done now, and like that, he died.

.

 **A/N**

 **[For Warlock Readers!]** Message from Red: If your all wondering where warlock is do not worry! It is being rewritten and as soon as the rewrite is done it shall continue! Also after forgive me is done Conrad of Lugnica will be continuing. If you do not know what it is, it is Ella's backstory and the story of Conrad. Sorry ReviewR, used forgive me so more people will check out COL. Anyways to ReviewR.

Okay, then… nothing really much to say, but I'll try cram the rest of the story in two more chapters. I'll change a few things in those chapters, some may be major but I'll make it so that [Perpetual Promise] can still be the sequel, well, I've technically dropped it for now… but having something to read with a giant cliffhanger is better than having nothing to read at all, right?


	8. Chapter 8: Sneaky Sneak Attack

**Uploading date: 9/3/2018 [M/D/Y]**

 **Forgive Me [Arc 3] - Remade**

 **.**

 **Chapter 8: Sneaky Sneak Attack**

* * *

Darkness, it shrouded him, everything around him was pitch-black. Being thrown into this void, he was cut off from all his senses. His limbs were senseless, his eyes and ears refused to see or listen. His consciousness was faint. His thoughts were hazy. As if they were spilling out of his brain and into the abyss.

Where is this? Who am I? Why am I here? Those were the questions that popped up as he continued floating towards the abyss of nothingness.

.

.

.

.

"I... love you."

Somewhere in the darkness, a voice rang out, through the void, he felt it, it was warm, kind, longing.

The voice thumped his eardrums... if he had any. It clasped his heart... but it wasn't in his chest. It made contact with his soul... but he doesn't have one.

The voice reached out to him directly. His heart was swept away by those crazy emotions and mourned. It sounded terribly fragile, heart-wrenching, and filled with unbearable loneliness. Its affection, so seared into its soul, seemed to have made it strange.

'Had I eyes, I would stare at the owner of that voice.'  
'Had I hands, I would caress the owner of that voice.'  
'Had I a mouth, I would call out endlessly to that voice.'  
'Had I arms, I would like to have embraced the owner of that voice.'  
'Had I legs, I would have rushed to the side of the owner of that voice.'  
'Had I a body, I would never leave the owner of that voice alone.'  
'Had I a heart, I would give it to that voice.'

All of those thoughts could come true, but none of them did, because in this realm, he had none of that, he was merely a soul in a sea of blackness, he felt continuous suffering because of this, the love being whispered to his ear kept him sane, but that love became sins.

He felt Slothful, for being unable to reply to her pleas of love.  
He felt Lustful, for wanting to unite and become one with her.  
He felt Gluttonous, for wanting to find out everything that is her.  
He felt Greedy, for seeking her love, demanding it, and then taking it all for himself.  
He felt Wrathful, at the unreasonableness and absurdity that disallowed their love.  
He felt Prideful, despising anything and everything that wasn't her.  
He felt Envious, simply of the void that surrounds that lovely girl.

He could feel the love becoming sins. The sins, it filled the void, the empty void that he was floating in.

He could sense her presence nearby, he could feel it come closer. As she approached him, he could feel his body slowly reforming. He could feel her, she was right in front of him.

He took a step forward, and a pulse echoed through the void, time was moving. He then understood. If he goes forward, time continues and so will he, in this world, void of everything but the two of them. He felt something behind him, it was bright and far off, he turned around and saw it.

Now fully aware of what it is, he rushed for it. Suddenly, space and time around him started reversing itself, the light glowed brighter, it came closer, he felt the sins being lifted of him.

"Not yet, I'm not done yet!" He screamed internally, his mouth was sealed shut.

He came to an understanding, if walked towards it, the world would begin once again.

"─I love you."

As he heard the soft voice his body urged him to turn back to the voice and find it. You want to turn around, but I won't, I mustn't turn around.

Not, yet-

Not now-

But someday, I'll hear your voice again, I'll hold your hand, and I'll call out to you.

"─I love you..."

Natsuki Subaru continued on until he reached the bright light, the loving voice kept calling out to him. He reached the light and then he felt a familiar sensation, he was going to return by death.

* * *

After approaching the light he felt a familiar sensation. He opens his eyes, a few armored men came into his vision, they were looking at him, rather confused and worried. His save point has updated to the time during the meeting.

"Hoi, Subaru-kyun? Something wrong?" He stayed in his sitting position for a good ten seconds, he blinked a few times. "Umm, Subaru-dono... is something the matter?" Wilhelm asked the stunned Subaru. "Huh?" Blinking his eyes, his consciousness returns to his body.

He started shaking his head, snapping himself out of his trance. Checking his body which he remembered very vividly was blasted to bits, he confirmed that the checkpoint had once again been moved forward, and it seems it was just after the battle of the whale. He saw that everyone was looking at him, rather worriedly.

"Oh, sorry, dazed off a bit there. So where were we?"  
"We are just about ready, then you said there was one more thing you have to tell us nya~"  
"Alright..."

He gathered his thoughts and brainstormed. He pieced the bits of information he learned from the last loop. This persisted for a whole minute, then he gathered their attention. All of them were listening carefully.

"Okay, there's three things I forgot to tell you all about, now listen carefully okay? The first thing is, news within the witch cult runs very fast and I'm sure they'll find out soon enough that we've taken down the whale and that we're going to interfere with their plans over in Roswaal's domain. Now, we're going to be asking the travelling merchants to help us, Anastasia-san's already doing that, we'll meet in a village near Roswaal's mansion..."

"Your telling us to be cautious of the merchant's, one of them could be a witch cultist, am I right?" Julius asked, and Subaru nodded "Hoho, Subaru-kyun is smarter than he looks, nya~ Ferri-chan can make sure whether they are a threat or not…"

"Secondly, their sin archbishop, Betelgeuse, has an ability called unseen hands, he can create invisible hands that interfere with its surroundings, There are people that are able to see his hands, i'm not sure how many of you can, but I can see parts of it, just bits of purple streaks here and there. So if any of you see something like that, please tell everyone to regroup"

They all nodded.

"Finally, the sin archbishop has another ability, or more like it's his trump card. Upon death, he is able to take control of other people around him, he takes over your mind and body and then he technically becomes you, something I'd call Possession"

Everyone gave a shocked stare, to be able to take control of the bodies of the people around him, such a terrifying enemy they all have to face. Julius then spoke up. "I have read about this sort of ability, this sort of ability is shown by spirits of a very high caliber"

"Yeah, that's what I thought… it seems anyone with a strong connection to spirits are basically immune to this sort of thing, and the more suitable you are to be a spirit arts user, the more likely he's going to possess you, so that's a precaution we must take"

"It seems he's strong enough to forcefully form a one-sided contract…"

They all seemed to understand, and they were definitely scared. "So if that's all, then the best course of action would be for myself to take care of him, it'd be the safest to keep everyone else away, but regarding his hands, just how much hands is he able to summon?"

"How many huh… if I recall, Puck said he had the ability to summon two thousand, half of what the Witch of Envy could do…"

"T-Two thousand!?" They all said, rather astonished. Two thousand long ranged, invisible hands, that itself is terrifying, with the added fact that he can instantly take over your body upon death, it seems they were all losing hope.

"Yes but there are also a few specific cultist that he can possess at any time, they are what he called his fingers. It's said that he's given them each a part of him, so you get what I mean" Everyone else was now dreading the situation, though the two just kept up on their discussion. "So, if we don't deal with his fingers first, he'll always be able to flee"

"You got that right"  
"I see, then if all is settled..."

Subaru snaps his fingers and "We head over to Roswaal's place, and we're gonna crush that cult-like mashed potatoes!" It seems only the big players replied with their battle cries, the others gave despaired looks, "Woah, why are you guys suddenly all gloomy?!"

"Heh, Subaru-kyun, you don't even know the weight of your own words, nya~"  
"Hey, the Knight of all Knights is here, do they have no faith in him?"  
"Then i'll have to make sure to wipe of those looks in the battle field"

"Tch, there you go all smug and knightly…"

* * *

The group had left and half of them is now entering the village. The Fangs of Iron and Felix were sent to check up on the merchants that were tasked with evacuating the village. They all got off their ground dragons and approached the village center, there weren't as many people outside as Subaru remembered. They got here earlier than last time since now they decided to evacuate the people before fighting the Cult.

Unlike last time, Subaru had dropped the cloak and instead went directly to talk to Ram, "You really are foolish aren't you, Barusu?"

"Yes, this is your foolish Barusu reporting for duty… you knew I was behind this all didn't you Nee-sama? That's why you came here to personally greet me, heh?" Subaru said in a rather mischievous tone, Ram scoffed at him and sighed, "Ram only came here only to insure Emilia-sama's safety, I had no intention of greeting you"

Subaru sighed, and followed her into the village.

"When Emilia-sama received the letter about the alliance, everyone thought Roswall-sama had made the deal"

"But Roswall didn't go to the capital, and your the only one who would know that, and so you reached the conclusion that I made that deal right? You didn't tell the others about it did you?"

"No, it would cause a big ruckus and we would all have to set off to find you, much to my displeasure"

Ram looked away, Subaru gave her an annoyed look.

"Hey am I really that worthless to you!" He protested.

"Yes, dig your grave after you've cleaned up this mess"  
"So savage!"

.

"So, what's the plan exactly, Barusu?"  
"Ram and Wilhelm-san will go and distract everyone while I go get Beatrice's help, we need her to beat our enemies boss"

"If it's Barusu, Beatrice-sama would most definitely refuse, you sure you can do it?"  
"Come on, when has Beatrice ever refused me?"  
"Fifty three times, and counting"  
"Have some faith in me wouldn't you?"

The cloaked Subaru hung his head low as he, Ram and Wilhelm approached the all to familiar mansion. They made it past the gate and through the mansions large door, where they were greeted by a blue-haired maid, Rem.

"Rem, the guests have arrived, please call Emilia-sama down…"  
"Yes Nee-sama…"

She scurried off to the stairs, going to Emilia's room. Before she reached the top she turned back and looked at cloaked Subaru, then she looks at Wilhelm, her face seemed to light up when she saw him, she then continues her search.

"You should hurry up and find Beatrice-sama Barusu. Before Rem notices you"  
"Right, counting on you two"

Looking around the hallways for a little while, he runs to one of them waving the two off, "Then, this way sir"

"Please, just Wilhelm is fine"  
"Very well, Wilhelm-dono…"

Opposite Subaru's direction, Ram lead Wilhelm to a room, there were several chairs and a table centered around them. Wilhelm sat down and Ram went to the kitchen to prepare.

* * *

Subaru was standing in front a door, it wasn't a special door, it was the same as the countless others in the hallway, what was special was the feeling he got from it. He stared at it for a long while, his mind was in deep thought, he had to word his response perfectly in order for this to work.

"Just come in, I suppose..."

A voice from the other side of door spoke out, his mind came back and he gulped, his hand approaches the doorknob and turns it, he saw the inside of the room, it should have been a guest room, dimly lit with a bed, a small desk, cupboards, shelves and a bathroom, but what he saw was a library, filled with rows and rows of books, it was brightly lit.

In front of the door, on a stool, sat a little girl, with drilled twintails, she wore an extravagant dress colored maroon and white, with a pink bow attached on the side, her eyes were blue with pink butterfly like pupils, holding a big black book in hand.

"So you actually came back? What do you want, I suppose..." She said as she stared into his eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, in another room, Emilia was seated, opposite to Wilhelm. Ram, and Rem standing beside her, and Puck is sitting on her shoulder.

"So, Wilhelm-san, the discussion about the alliance is already done?"

"Yes, it has finished yesterday, the alliance is on equal terms and it goes as follows, the Crusch camp, Anastasia camp, and the Emilia camp have the shared mining rights to the magic gems in the Elior forest"

Emilia was surprised that the Anastasia camp had joined in on the alliance. Before the incident at the capital, Emilia and Roswall had tried to form an alliance with Crusch, she was willing to comply, though she needed something to give her the last push into joining. That was what Subaru had done.

"Anastasia camp? Wasn't it originally just our two camps?"

"Yes but there were some changes after the negotiations, I have been forbidden from saying it here as she wishes to discuss it with you in person" It wasn't a lie, Subaru had asked Crusch to discuss the alliance with her so it would lead to no confusion. But it wasn't Crusch that had forbidden him, it was Subaru.

"I see... The letter also says to prepare for evacuation, is there a threat approaching nearby?"

"Yes, the Witch Cult's movement have been spotted in the forest near Arlam village and we were tasked to subdue them"

"But why would Crusch-san be willing to do this?" She was confused. To Crusch, Emilia is a political enemy, to keep her safe, that would be risking her position as the king. It made no sense why she would do this.

"That is also something I have been prohibited to discuss with you"

"I understand, if there is nothing else, we can close the discussion here and prepare for the evacuations" She wanted to end the conversation here as she feared that she was delaying the evacuation which could increase the risks.

"Yes, is there anything else you would like to know?"  
"No, I have no further questions"  
"Then we can con-"  
"Wilhelm-dono..."

They were just about done until Rem called to him, she looked at him with hopeful eyes. "Yes?" Wilhelm knew what she was going to ask so he prepared himself, Subaru was aware this might happen so he came up with a plan.

"Rem would like to know if... Subaru-kun is alright..."

"Hmm…" Wilhelm put up a serious face, but it deteriorated into a smile, "Subaru-dono is fine and well. Last I saw, he had the smile of a warrior on his face, if I were to say, it seems he's found what he's been looking for"

* * *

"What are you saying, I suppose?"  
"Please… be my partner…"

Subaru was on the ground, practically begging her, "Betty heard what you said, I suppose. I'm saying if you know how absurd your request is!" The spirit yelled at the boy who had his head on the ground. "I know you have to protect the library and whatever, but I really need your help! Isn't there some kind of way to bypass the contract?"

"There is no way to bypass that contract, it's almost absolute, and even if you were to find a way to bypass the contract, what makes you think Betty would want to form a contract with you?!"

"I know alright! There's no reason for you to make a contract with such a lowly fool like me, but that's why I'm begging you! I don't have much but just take everything I have, just this once please!"

Beatrice gave Subaru a look that was similar, if not, the same kind that Priscillia gave him when he was begging for her help, he was terrified, "Hmph, you're giving such a pitiful look it hurts, I suppose…" She got off of her stool and crouched down to the boy, "Lift your head up, I suppose, Betty dislikes looking at people in such a sorry state…"

"Huh?"

Lifting his head up rather hopefully, his eyes meets with the spirit's, "Betty's job isn't to protect this library, in fact, it's to pass it on to a special 'Person' that is destined to come one day, it may be far in the future, it could be tomorrow, maybe's they've already visited… but they haven't come for four hundred years, so I wouldn't expect them to come any time sooner, I suppose…" Shattering all his hope, that's what she's aiming for.

Subaru's eyes widen at the disparity of the situation, if he can't get Beatrice in his side, then people are bound to die, he can't let that happen. Suddenly, an idea sparked in his head, "Then… what if you gave me the library?" Ridiculous? Yes, that's what Beatrice thought, a ridiculous plan Subaru had proposed.

"You're a fool, I suppose…"  
"I know I'm a fool, but it works doesn't it?"

Subaru looked at Beatrice with eyes of determination, "What in the world are you going to use this library for, I wonder?" She crossed her eyes and stared at him, he doesn't falter, "I have no use of this library, hell, I can barely even read what's in a handful of these books… In fact, I don't even care about the library one bit" His reply was filled with the truth, the hard, and barren truth.

"Then why must Betty give you the library then?"  
"Because I want it, why else?!"

"To give all this knowledge, stockpiled over centuries… for Betty to simply hand it over to a fool who can't even use it… is dangerous, I suppose. What if someone were to find out and blackmail you, I wonder? How would you react, would you simply give away the-"

"Enough of library this, library that! Didn't I tell you that I don't care about this library one bit?" Subaru said, raising his voice a little, giving Beatrice a confident face, "If your scared the library will fall into the wrong hands, then I'll burn it! If want the knowledge to be passed on to someone worthy then I'll scourge the land for someone! If you want the knowledge to be appreciated then i'll damn memorize everything in the library! Just give me the library!"

With an outstretched hand reaching out to Beatrice, Subaru pleaded to her. "You imbecile, do you not understand the importance of this library? It's not something you just give away or burn down, I suppose!" Retorting Subaru's request with a stomp to the ground, she looks away with an irritated sigh. "Screw the library! I don't care what happens to it, just give it to me so I can have you!"

The way he said it could have been misinterpreted in many ways, but in this situation, it would be impossible for such things to occur, "Betty whole reason for living is because of this library! To just brush it off as another book-filled room, Betty shouldn't hand it over to you, I suppose!" Now clearly angry, Beatrice threatens Subaru, with her hand out to get him.

"Your whole reason is just for this library? Don't screw with me, no person would make such a dumbass decision. If your 'reason to live' is this library, then i'll destroy it! Along with everything you thought was life! Then, i'll give you another reason to live, I'll bring you out and show you life as it's meant to be, I'll be your 'reason to live'!"

In front of Subaru heartless resolution, Beatrice's figure faltered, "What nonsense are you spouting, I suppose!? You'll be my reason to live!? That's absurd!" Right now, she was shivering, shivering at the unfaltering form Subaru is showing her, his eyes were burning, he wasn't joking around, "I'll throw everything away, so please form a contract with me…"

Her hands shook, her lips quivered, "Y-You do know what your saying, right? Betty isn't some second-hand spirit that will be pleased by your mere presence, you know…" He nods, reassuring her, "Whatever it is you want, whatever it is you need, you can count on me, i'll go through hell to be your reason to live so please help me…"

"You… you understand that by doing that, you'll put Betty and only Betty first, not the half-elf, nor that maid, or even your parents, I suppose… with that, do you still think you have what it takes to be Betty's reason to live?"

"What kind of question is that? Of course, I'd rather stand by your side and watch everyone live happily than live in a world where they all die, a world where everything I've amounted to is nothing… so please…"

"..."

* * *

Back where the others were, the atmosphere suddenly loosened up, with Wilhelm telling them all that Subaru was fine, though, he wasn't finished, "Ahem… He also left a message," Everyone in the room, Ram excluded, gasped in surprise.

"A message?" Rem repeated, making sure she wasn't hearing things. "Yes, he has told me that he wants to inform you all that he'll be returning, he has made up his mind, from the look on his face, I think it'd he'll be greeting you very soon…"

Emilia and Puck gave bright smiles as they looked towards Rem with a nod. Rem widened her wavering eyes, she looked like she was about to cry, she managed to bring out a smile and bowed. With just the thought of Subaru returning she was happy, Ram looked over at her, she couldn't help but sigh in an irritated manner.

"Thank you, Wilhelm!"  
"Your welcome, Rem-dono"

Suddenly, while they were all rejoicing, the door opened, rather quickly, it surprised Rem and Emilia. "Wilhelm-dono... preparations for the evacuation have been done" A cloaked figure appeared on the other side, he was concealed head to toe, "Time is of the essence, the witch cult could attack at any time so if you have finished with everything..." It was Subaru, trying his best to conceal his voice.

"Oh yes, we are done here" Wilhelm stood up from his chair and looked at the four that were opposite to him "The carriages have been prepared, Emilia-sama, we must evacuate immediately"

"Understood..." With no time left to spare, Emilia got off the chair, so did the others, "Puck, we should call Beatrice, it's dangerous to stay here alone, isn't it?"

"It's alright Lia, Betty can handle anything if she's inside her library. She's super~ strong when she's there, and I don't think anyone will be able to find her anyway" Puck reassured Emilia with a cute nod, Ram then stepped in as well, "You have no need to worry Emilia-sama. When Beatrice-sama is serious, no one can ever find her, I have experienced this first hand"

Emilia looked at the two with a defeated look "Ok then if you say so..."

.

The all left the mansion, and were walking to the gate, though Ram stayed back, with the cloaked Subaru to do some final checks around the place, once the others made it past the gate, Ram turned over to Subaru, "So, has the useless Barusu finally did something worthwhile?" Shooting Ram a rather victorious smile, he turned to the mansion door and yanked a blonde haired spirit out.

"Beako, successfully swooned!"  
"For the maid to see the great Betty in such a state… I'm a failure, I suppose!"  
"Aw cheer up already! You've got many more chances to make an appearance"

Subaru took several glances at the diminishing figures until they finally went out of his vision, then. "Ok, now that they're gone, we just need to wait for the rest of them to fish out the traitor"

"You've already found a traitor? Is Betty really needed here, I suppose?"  
"Yes, of course, you are, just wait for your time to shine"

"Beatrice-sama, this may aid you in your endeavors, consider it a gift for finally stepping out of the mansion after last month's events" Ram hands over to Beatrice what seemed to be a cloak, it was Ram's own, "Hm… I shall take it, I suppose. But I don't appreciate the latter part of your sentence, Pink maid…"

"Well, we gotta keep a low profile, if they find out we're doing this then it might cause a ruckus, I'll make you a bright and colorful one when this is all done so bear with me ok..."

She nods and Subaru whistles, from the bush, a rustling sound could be heard. A jet black ground dragon sprinted out and straight to Subaru, startling Beatrice. "Haha, sorry for the wait Patrasche, a little spirit was stubbornly refusing me with all her heart so it took a while" Hearing this, the little spirit pouted away, with Ram giving Subaru a rather disgusted stare.

"Oi, don't give me that look Nee-sama…"

* * *

After meeting up with Julius and Felix, Subaru and Beatrice split off with Ram. They trailed three figures onto the hill overlooking the village, "Yes, they seem to have spotted our movements…" One of them was holding onto what could be a communication device, "I don't know… At the moment they're fleei-" A sword was stabbed straight through his throat, the other two turned around but were knocked out almost instantly.

"So you guys have walkie talkies I see… well then, Ferris, you can control bodies right?" Subaru walked up to the dying man, blood gushing out of his throat as he tried to gurgle out a curse, "Correct, nya~" Felix crouched beside him, Julius came by as well, "You aren't going to have things your way, sorry, but we'd like to live our lives to the fullest…"

Grabbing the map in the man's pocket, Subaru sees two crossed marks, "This where your friends are?" The man didn't give a response, so Felix touched stroked his face and he nodded. "Right then… we'll let Ricardo handle these guys, then we search around for the remaining fingers. After that's all done, we'll finish of Betelgeuse"

He threw it over to Julius and without a moment to waste, he headed off, "I think it's some sort of Metia nya~ It works like mini conversing mirrors..." Felix chimed as he scanned the Metia on his hand.

"Listen closely, we're gonna give your friends a schedule that is... let's say two hours late, in that amount of time, we'll evacuate the village, cut off all those 'Fingers' of your boss, and then I'll go and personally finish off your sin archbishop" Subaru chuckles and gives shoots the man an evil grin. The cultist's eyes, they weren't filled with fear like it should be, it was filled with frustration.

"We are one step ahead of you, I suppose," Beatrice suddenly entered the scene. "And you're about to see how terrifying that really is" Subaru added. The dying man just leered at the three as they gave him mocking smiles, then he suddenly closed his eyes, and stopped breathing.

"Hey, Ferris how was that duo, sentence finisher!" Subaru said while looking at Felix with a rather proud look. "Nya~ is that really what you should be asking when a person has literally died in front of you nya…"

"Enough of that, I suppose… these two aren't dead yet so we can fish out some information from them, I suppose..."  
"Alright, nya~"

Felix approaches the other two knocked out on the ground and shakes them awake, the moment they were awake, Beatrice squeezed out all the mana inside them, "Stay down, I suppose" With the figure no longer able to move, Felix's hand glows blue as he brings it to the man's chest. "Nyow… tell Ferri-chan all about your plans…"

* * *

As the evacuation was going on, Emilia and Rem were waiting by the village center for their carriage, when Ram walked towards them. "Emilia-sama" However, she wasn't alone. Several children were with her, the village's children. "We seem to have encountered a shortage problem, the merchants don't have enough carriages so we must ask you to travel with these children"

"Huh, can't we put them in another carriage?"  
"Sadly not, the other carriages are already full"

She looks at the children, it's not like she didn't want to go with them. It's just that she felt like they didn't want to go with her and that they were forced into doing it.

"Excuse me, Miss"

Someone came up to them, he wore a white cloak with purple cat-like ears extruding from the top. Rem stares at him, she could smell the scent of the witch on him, though the trickles of blood on his cloak made her act otherwise, "Ah, the envoy from Crusch-san?"

"Yes, time is running short, I'm sure the children will be more than happy to travel with you. So you don't have to worry" He said to her with a reassuring smile. "Huh, but still, I think it'd be better to-" Not really letting her complete her sentence, he moves over to the girl with chestnut hair.

"Isn't that right little one, you don't mind traveling with the beautiful lady right?"

Petra and the other kids look over to Emilia and approach her, they all smile. "Your the lady that came the other day with Subaru right? Of course, we don't mind traveling with you" The other children nodded their heads in agreement. They then went to Rem.

"Rem-rin! Will you be with us as well!" With Rem being overwhelmed by the childrens sheer happiness, she looks over to her sister who sighs. "Yes, Rem will be accompanying you as well… we already know how cute my little sister is so none of you go bothering her now..." Giving a rather cold stare at the children, she walks away slowly.

"Uwaah! Ram-chi is scary!"  
"Hmph…"

The children were celebrating loudly, Emilia and Rem chuckled a bit. Ram just stayed in her usual expression slowly backing away. "What about you Ram? Aren't you coming with ys?" Emilia asked as she walked over to Ram.

"Huh? Ram shall be taking half of them to Sanctuary where Roswaal-sama is currently in, there wouldn't be enough space to hold all the villagers in the capital"

"Okay then, take care..."  
"You too Emilia-sama, and Rem please don't let Emilia-sama or these kids out of your sight okay"

Rem nods "Of course Nee-sama, Rem will protect them with her life".

* * *

"And with that, we can finally stop all this cloaking nonsense!" As the carriages fade into the distance, Subaru threw off his cloak into the air, taking in the fresh blood-filled air. "Smells horrible!"

"Stop clowning around, I suppose. The other's have returned..." Turning around to see his newly contracted spirit, he catches sight of a group moving towards them, the Fangs of Iron that were sent to subdue the cultists marked on the map they had plundered. "So how did it go guys?" Subaru called out to them.

"Yep, they were there alright, we took em out like it was a piece of cake! But we brought back one of them with us for questioning, well it was more like he was the only one that could talk anyway..."

Behind Ricardo, two Rigers came along, a log of wood locked into their jaws. Tied onto the bark of the log was a man, gray haired and gagged, wearing mostly green his face was one of despair. He was a familiar face to Subaru, finding him here, Subaru can't help to suppress his laughter.

"Whats funny, I suppose," Beatrice asked looking at him, rather worried.

"I've been wondering when you'd show up! Seriously, I thought you'd be the first one of the merchants I'd meet, was kinda worried when you weren't anywhere in the village. It's okay guys, I know this one personally, he's not a threat" Confirmed by Subaru's words, he was untied and was dropped to the ground.

"Ugh... I thank you for saving me, sir... But can you please stop laughing at my misfortune!" After a few minutes, Subaru's laughter finally died out, he laughed so much that his chest started to hurt. Wiping off the tears from his eyes, he gives his hand over to the man "Haha, alright then... so, my name is Natsuki Subaru, I already know you're Otto, so you don't need to bother with an introduction. Traveling merchant looking to get some money right?"

Otto stood up and dusted himself, taking Subaru's hand. Looking around he could see many knights and mercenaries, something important is happening here he thought, much more important than he originally thought. "Uh, well, thanks for that Natsuki-san… although I'm a little weirded out by how you know so much about me when this is the first time we've met…"

Giving Subaru a rather doubtful and concerned look, Otto shakes his hand, "Don't worry about the trivial stuff, I'm pretty famous for knowing things out of my reach, you can say it's one of my only good points. So, how'd you end up with the cult anyway?"

"Well, I was heading to the village so I could get a part of the evacuation deal, so I decided to take a shortcut but I was ambushed before I made it there..." Looking rather down from that, Otto sighs at his misfortune. Subaru pats him on the back, consoling him "Well your waaay too late to take part in that deal, everyone's already left, Haha!"

"W-What?! No way..."

* * *

The group, now including Otto, have now gathered after defeating all the remaining fingers, the preparations for Sloth is done. "So Otto, since your here, you can help with confirming the carriages or something, sorry but I got no cash to spend so make yourself a little bit useful please," Subaru said to Otto, who wasn't allowed to leave.

"First I miss a golden opportunity, now I do community service…"

Rather disheartened, Otto followed Felix over to one of the houses, with the others finally returning. Julius was walked towards Subaru and Beatrice "All the preparations are finished, we can leave any time, Subaru" he informed them.

After hearing this, Subaru walked up to a place where everyone can see him, Beatrice standing beside him, "Alright, attention everyone! Everything is going accordingly so we'll continue as planned. We haven't lost anyone yet, and I'd like to keep it that way until the end! Half of us have gone to protect the villagers but we are more than enough to finish off what's remaining, we'll end this once and for all!"

Everyone cheered out their battle cries, rather loudly, not something you'd do when your planning on performing a sneak attack, though fortunately, they weren't heard, everyone took their positions and waited for the signal.

.

Subaru walked into the clearing alone, he was uncloaked, Beatrice wasn't by his side, neither was Julius, they were stationed elsewhere. Wilhelm wasn't behind the rocks preparing for a sneak attack, and the twins weren't hiding by the bushes, he was simply alone, with no one to help him.

"I welcome you, oh fellow believer of love"

Hearing a wretched voice, he stayed calm, a wide smile plastered on his face, "I am a sin archbishop of the Witch Cult representing Sloth... Betelgeuse Romanee Conti, Desu!" The madman greeting him bends forward in a rather awkward stance. Subaru walks closer, in one of his hands was a book, the other was shut tightly into a fist. Betelgeuse looks to the hand with the book and squeals.

"It is a great honor to meet you fellow Cardinal, it is I, Natsuki Subaru, Sin Archbishop of Pride" Subaru exclaims rather triumphantly his smile twisted into a smirk as he jokingly glares at Betelgeuse, a way of asserting dominance, he hopes that's how they interpreted it anyway.

Betelgeuse's eyes widened, tears forming on the corners of his eyes. "Ahh! How wonderful! With this, we are all complete!" He started pulling out his hair, smashing his face into the cave walls. "Forgive me, my witch, forgive me for my slothfulness! Forgive me, for not finding him sooner my witch!"

Blood leaking from his head and hair dropping down on to the stone floor. Subaru was going to let him continue his self-torture until he tired out, but he had no time to waste. "Oi, you're making quite a fool of yourself there Bete-san, show some restraint, one mustn't lose their composure in front of their subordinates you know?"

"Agh! You're absolutely right! I curse myself for my slothfulness!" He continues slamming his head into the rock, small chunks of the rock breaking off with each slam. "Then, let's hurry up and get things over with, the witch doesn't like waiting you know? I've only been told by mister book here that I'm to meet you here and continue with pushing the half-elf towards the trials or something?"

"Ah yes the trial! Of course! We must test the devil and see if she's worthy as a vessel for our witch! With our combined efforts, nothing can come in our path! Desu!" His rather loud shriek made Subaru wince "If she is unworthy... she will be disposed of, right?"

"Yes! For she is an imposter!" Betelgeuse started laughing maniacally, Subaru, however, was seething with the intent to kill this man. They didn't the slightest bit care about Emilia, though they are a cult with a twisted mentality. "Now then, it seems you have received your gospel, we must begin immediately!"

"Just a moment there Bete-san, I want to do some introductions first"  
"Eh?"

Opening up his enclosed fist, he showed to him a golden and circular object, lobbing it over to Betelgeuse, Subaru cloaked himself once more, looking over to a nearby bush "What is that?" He asked while flipping it around, "Oh, you should know what this is, it's what you use to talk with the rest right? I got it from one of your guys"

Finally flipping over the conversing Metia, an image appeared on the other side "Nyaho! Ferri-chan here! Is this thing- Waah~ he really is scary, you weren't kidding now weren't you, Subaru-kyun!" Betelgeuse just stared at the screen, his face was of utter confusion. "Ferris! You gotta put extra Nya~ into it! His reaction ain't funny enough! Hehe"

"Then, Kyuun Kyuun~"  
"What is this!"

Betelgeuse says while staring at Subaru, his mind not registering what's happening right now, "Weird ain't it? Well that's just how life goes, right now, your in a dream, but it's not any dream, it's gonna be your **worst nightmare...** "

The last part sounded very evil like, coupled with his eyes, it would make even the most mightiest of warriors flinch. He snaps his fingers and from the forest appears a black ground dragon, it burst out full speed and rammed Betelgeuse straight on, sending him flying towards the rocks.

"Nice! Our sneaky sneak attack was a success, good job Patrasche!" The ground dragon heads over to the Subaru and he gives her a nice pat on the head, smirking over at Betelgeuse's direction. "How'd you like that surprise, Bete-san? Seems you were slothful yet again"

"Surprise... Surprise! Then what do you think about this!"

As he got himself back to his feet, Subaru saw purple streaks heading straight for him, and when they came close enough, they suddenly appeared as hands. He reacted quickly, flinging up a Fire gem. Patrasche grabbed him by the collar and dashed off to the side. The stone erupted mid air and all the unseen hands disappeared.

"Well that's not very 'surprising' if you ask me, hehe"

Betelgeuse screams out in frustration, he twists his back into a rather painful position, and he bit into his fingers till they bled, it was a gruesome sight. "Impossible, my authority, gifted to me by the Witch, how... how can you see them!" Glaring at Subaru who dusted himself off, he scratched his own face, spreading blood around it.

"Well, if you really wanna know that badly, why don't you go ask your precious witch then? I'm sure she'd be very happy to tell you, she did slather her scent all over me, didn't she? Oh wait, don't tell me you can't talk with her anytime you want like me? Hehe..." Sticking his tongue out at the enraged Betelgeuse, Subaru got back on top of Patrasche.

Betelgeuse was now furious, biting at his nails once more, he screams, "How dare you! How dare you speak as if you are intimate with the Witch!" Sprouting out several unseen hands from behind his back, Betelgeuse lashes out at Subaru. Whipping the reins, Subaru manages to maneuver around them on Patrasche, shooting Betelgeuse a rather mocking smile.

"Well I did, what are you gonna do about it you sloth?"

He screams once again, more hands came out to grab him, and they were bigger. Subaru whipped the reins once more and the two of them dashed into the forest. Having lost his temper, Betelgeuse picked himself up with his unseen hands and tore through the trees and shrubbery.

* * *

"Do you really think you can escape!"

As Subaru and Patrasche dodged the barraged of unseen hands, Betelgeuse persistently chases them through the forest, neither side backing down in the chase "Escaping? That's a cowardly thing to do for a prideful person like me, don't you think? This is just a tactical retreat, right? Let's keep going Patrasche!"

Several unseen hands were shot at him, they were faster than Patrasche so they would catch up to him in a matter of seconds. "WAAAAH" A blast of energy dissipated the unseen hands from their backs, Mimi and Tivey appeared into the scene, along with other Fangs of Iron members.

"What's this!? That man's flying all crazy!"  
"Tell me about it, he's crazy in the head, counting on you two to fling the minions of our tail!"  
"You got it! Nee-chan!"

"WAAAAAAH!"

Another blast and Patrasche suddenly made a sharp turn, the unseen hands zoomed past them, a few cultists tried to follow them but fell on the dirt. Betelgeuse continued on the search on his own, tearing down the whole forest during the process. As they split off from the rest of the cult, Subaru lead Betelgeuse over to an empty spiked battlefield.

He then stopped, getting off of Patrasche.

"This place..."

Betelgeuse lowered himself and jumped down, landing in front of Subaru, leering at him. Subaru had his hands in his pockets, with a cocky smile on his face. "You know Bete-san, this is a rather special place to me, I've met my end twice here, and it's helped me resolve a few problems before, we even died here together you know? I've got a pretty long history with you…"

* * *

The twenty men Crusch gave to Subaru were tasked with escorting the evacuees alongside Wilhelm, they were solely for ensuring the safety of the villagers. The evacuating group had stopped for a break, they were making their way to Flugel's tree but it seems they've encountered a predicament.

Emilia and Rem were talking while the children were playing a game when Wilhelm suddenly approached them. "Excuse me Emilia-sama, Rem-dono. I'm afraid to inform you but a group seems to be tailing us from behind, I will need to take a few of our forces to deal with them..."

"Will you not be needing any of our assistance" Rem asked, prepared for battle, Emilia looked determined as well. "That wouldn't be necessary. Besides, I'm sure the children would worry for you, wouldn't you think?" With the two looking at the children playing games in the back, they smiled. "Yes, I guess they would worry now wouldn't they..."

"A maid and a candidate shouldn't bother themselves with the frontlines, it's much too risky, If something were to happen, I'm sure Subaru-dono would blame himself wouldn't he?"

With the sudden mention of Subaru's name, the two suddenly tensed up, it's true Subaru would blame himself, so they dare not let that happen.

* * *

"Your plan... was to lead me out here? Out in the open?! Without all my subordinates! Your very slothful, Desu! My love for the witch, surpasses all, I don't need to rely on anyone! I can perform the ordeal myself! Then... what do you have prepared for me..."  
"Well, as much as I hate it, I won't be able to beat you on my own, so I got some help"

Subaru patted Patrasche and she left the scene, he then whistled loudly. From the top of the cliff appeared Julius, looking down at the two with an imposing pressure. Taking a big leap, lights of different colors start glowing around him as he slowly hovered down the cliff, he made a perfect landing next to Subaru.

"I shall gladly aid you in this battle, Subaru"

Then, he snapped his fingers and out of nowhere, Beatrice appeared beside Subaru, grabbing hold of his hand. "Since Subaru's personally begged for Betty's help, It would be rude If I didn't accept, I suppose" Twirling her hair in the air she landed her gaze upon the robed madman.

There was minor small talk between the three. Betelgeuse glares at his three opponents, gripping his hands tight, his eyes bulging out rather painfully, his teeth clenching. "Do you think adding two more to your rankings can beat me! Disappear, in the face of my diligence!"

Several unseen hands rushed for them, at a terrifying speed. Julius stood still, So did Beatrice and Subaru, not caring about the madman in the slightest. Subaru glanced to the side for a second then he turned back again, merely snapping his fingers. The unseen hands surrounded Julius and then engulfed him, no one knew what happened, the shadowy hands blocked the vision of everyone in the battle, but then...

.

.

.

.

 **"Al Clarista!"**

.

.

.

.

As an explosion of bright light brightened up the sky, the shadowy hands dispersed from the three of them. The bright light faded and Betelgeuse saw the three, they were completely unscathed, unharmed, as if his unseen hands had no effect on them. He stood there frozen, so were his remaining unseen hands, frozen in shock. Purple bolts were conjured out of then air, and shot directly at the remaining hands, tearing a hole through them cleanly.

"Something the matter, I suppose" Beatrice questioned him, almost in a mockingly. Julius started to walk forward with his sword pointed at the madman, his eyes glowed a nice hazel hue.

Betelgeuse was infuriated, he was furious, but most of all, he felt disregarded. His eyes started to bleed out from the sheer pressure of their bulging. He screamed, a scream of frustration and the final battle had begun. "How... How, How! How! One soul being able to see them is madness, but now two others can!"

He screams out in utter frustration, pulling out strands of hair as he shakes his head insanely. The other three just winced at the sight, if they let him continue, it fight would be well over before anyone actually landed a hit. "If you want to know what madness is, then I say you should go look in a mirror, it'd do you very good actually"

"Nect... It's a high-class spell that allows the connection of certain senses through gate connection. With Beatrice-sama's help, we're able to connect our visions with Subaru's, combining it with our own. So what we see, is also what he sees, with his eyes, we will defeat you!"

"It feels disgusting, I suppose" Beatrice complained sticking out her tongue in disgust, "Yeah that's right, it's like sharing a body with a loli and a macho at the exact same time, I really don't like this, hey Julius, let's get this over with!" Subaru said, completely on his partner's side with this.

"Then we shall…"

"No, such humiliation, you shall not use such trickery, such foolish means, to mock my devotion! My love, It won't be obstructed! My love is unending! It's undying! My love! I'll show you, my Love!" He screams aloud in a blood-curdling voice and a wave of unseen hands burst forth, ready to besiege them, though they were either sliced apart by Julius's sword or were shot by Beatrice's purple bots.

"Hah, this is way too easy, hey Bete-san crank up the difficulty would ya?"

Another ear shattering scream and the unseen hands split up, one bundle followed Julius while the other aimed for Subaru and Beatrice. Taking a jump back to cover some distance, Beatrice took the unseen hands herself. "El Clarista!" With a single swipe of his sword, Julius easily wiped out everything from his side.

"Hey, hey Beako, don't leave me out of this, teach me how to do that!"

Stepping back quickly, Beatrice grabs onto Subaru's hand and both suddenly float off into the air. "El-Clarista!" A slash of light and the surge of purple hands cleared away at once. "It's as simple as visualizing, I suppose, you can visualize right?" While the two were afloat, more unseen hands shot out, bigger and faster, they were speeding at an alarming right.

"Visualize? Right, I can visualize!"

Stretching his hands out, he imagined the attack Beatrice used, a crystal-like bolt, "Taste my visualization!" Purple light glew and a bolt was appearing out of thin air, the next second it lashed down on cut through one of the hands, breaking on impact, "Your imagining them as if they're thin glass, I suppose! You have to make them as hard as steel if they're to be useful, Subaru!"

"Argh! I never thought science class would come in handy like this!"

With Subaru and Beatrice becoming a bolt spitting machine, Julius fended off the rest of the hands with his glowing sword and spirit arts, even then, there was still too much, they weren't able to push through or find an opening. "Futile! All your attempts are futile! Fade away in the face of my diligence! My everlasting love for the witch!"

"Beako, any other tricks up your sleeve?"  
"Magicians don't usually reveal their tricks, but since Subaru asked…"

"El-Minya!"

Spreading her arms out wide, evenly lined purple crystals surrounded the two, fine, thin, and sharp, "Woah!" She clasps her hands and they flew forward. Maneuvering around the purple hands with ease, they flew on like homing missiles, Betelgeuse being their target. "You won't trample down my unending love! Never!" Covering himself in several large unseen hands, Betelgeuse defends from the attack, barely. The crystals shot through the hands with ease but their trajectory was altered, so he was only grazed by a few.

"Tch, I missed, in fact…"  
"Julius, don't just stand there! Your chance!"

Hearing Subaru well and clear, he dashed forward with his sword, "It's your time to end, Sloth!" Building up speed, he ran towards Betelgeuse, his sword pinpointed straight at him, "My love! Never, Never!" More unseen hands shot for him, but he either cut them down, or dodged them.

"Ul-Dona!" Slamming his fists to the ground, Betelgeuse summoned a dome of earth around himself, his last attempt at protecting himself, Julius slashed his sword at it while chanting, "Al-Clarista!" a shine of light erupted and decimated the dome of earth, concealing Betelgeuse for another attack, but, "Slothful!"

Before Julius could advance any closer to Betelgeuse, unseen hands burst out of his way. Blocking it with his sword he was knocked back rather far, tumbling down on his way, but the barrage of unseen hands didn't stop there, they weren't done yet. "Ul-Minya!" Blue light binded them before they could reach Julius, however.

"Don't neglect Betty, I suppose!"

The blue light covered the hands and imploded, destroying them all completely. "No! Impossible! Impossible! The Witch! My Love! Why!" Julius gets up once more and runs in closer, " My love! My love! Fear my love!" avoiding the unseen hands, dashing from side to side, he picked up speed. Another wave of unseen hands were closing in, but with the swipe of his hand, "La! El-Goa!" they were burnt to cinders.

"NO! I thought I was loved, Why!"

Lumping up the rest of his remaining unseen hands, he formed a massive clump that headed straight for Julius, It was easily four times his size, it can crush him in a mere instant, but they were ready. The moment the hands touched him, he disappeared. "What!" With Betelgeuse exclaiming that, a loud explosion destroyed his lumped, mega unseen hand.

"Damn, these magic crystal gem things are amazing!"

Another flash of light, this time, behind him, Betelgeuse was too slow to react, Julius thrusts his sword forward, "Al-Clauseria!" The bright light turned into a white inferno, being caught in the impact, Betelgeuse was sent hurling away, slamming into a few stone spikes. He was smacked into the edge, bones breaking, skin tearing, a critical hit most definitely. Where Julius stood was a small round crater dug into the earth.

"It's over..."

Julius had unsheathing his sword, his spirits fading out of sight, and he fell to his knees. "Woah, you alright there?" Subaru and Beatrice floated back down and went over to check on him, though he just snickered, "I used a little too much mana on that last attack, I won't be able to cast another spell for a whole day it seems"

"Hmm, I've never heard of such a spell, I suppose"

"It's a spell that me and my spirits created, Beatrice-sama, and there aren't much times where I get to use it all out, so it's not well known, but when I do use it, the spell becomes rather devastating, I still need to practice on it before it's completely perfected"

"Woah, you can make your own spells? Beako, we should make one too! Something offensive too!"  
"Hmph, with Subaru's crazy ideas, such a feat could possibly be reached, I suppose, but Betty fears Subaru may end up wasting it on something unreasonable…"

"I won't... let it... end! My love... my love won't be taken! It is mine!"

The three jerked their heads to a dying voice, Betelgeuse, struggling to get up on his feet, half his body was literally burnt, the other half torn out, "Pride! Natsuki Subaru! The witch's love, it will be mine!" Letting out a final scream, the whole forest shuddered, the trees rattled, the birds flew away, a surge of magic flushed over Subaru.

"Julius, Beatrice! Undo Nect now!"  
"Very well"  
"Alright, I suppose!"

Julius's black and white spirits appear again and in a flash, the orange hue in all of their eyes faded away, Subaru's eyes, that were temporarily glowing purple, had reverted back to its original hazel color. Subaru then clutched at his heart, like there's something grasping him.

"Trying to interfere with the contract! Hmph, Subaru's is Betty's now, you can't take him, I suppose!"  
"Hey Betelgeuse! You were going on about your love for the witch… let me help you confess then! I can Return by Dea-"

Time stopped, the world darkened, and he was once again embraced in shadows, his mind was growing numb as the realm of shadows once again overlapped reality. He was sitting down on a pool of shallow water, no, it wasn't water, it was just shadows, shadows that felt like water. In front of him, was Betelgeuse also sitting down on a pool of his own, behind him was an eerie presence, the witch.

"Ahhh!" Betelgeuse squealed in ecstasy as he slowly turns around, the witch entering into his field of vision, "My witch… oh my lovely witch, we finally meet!" Bowing down to the eerie presence, he cries his heart out fully, tears streaming down the madman's face. "All this time, all the years i've spent, and I finally get to see you! Ahhh!"

With him continuing on his bowing, Subaru just got up and watched as the witch stares at him, deprived of any emotion, just staring, "Pride… this was your plan all along! To get me to meet with the witch! You truly are a believer of love! Yes, forgive my slothfulness, forgive me for not noticing!" Embracing Subaru as thanks, dragging his bloodied body over to him, he stayed there crying for a minute, neither Subaru, nor the witch moved.

"You've got that wrong, Bete-san…"  
"Huh?"

Her hands started to stretch out to Betelgeuse, while he was literally bawling his eyes out, "I didn't bring you here to help complete your dream… it was merely to show you how absurd that dream of yours is. You were chasing a flower you can't even reach…" A sharp stab of pain filled whatever was left of Betelgeuse and he was flinged away.

Half his body was torn in the process, he fell down, his face half submerged in water. Subaru walked up to him, with a rather sorry look, "You're not the one she loves… it's me…" With the final bits of tears dripping off his, he lets out a cry, a plea, a scream. Subaru walks away and looks at the witch, she stares back, and suddenly, the realm broke, the gripping pain in his heart gone, time resumed, darkness subsided, and reality returned once more.

The next second, Subaru fell to the ground, breathing rather raggedly. "Subaru, what's wrong, I suppose!" Beatrice asked nervously, Julius helping him up, both of them worried to what in the world might have happened to him. "My witch… why…" Opposite of them was Betelgeuse, miraculously torn into two.

"What about my love… all these years i've spent loving you… why won't you accept it… my love… My Love!"

An ominous wave of energy blasted through them, they understood it well, "He's going to use his authority again!" With Julius, unsheathing his sword with the small amount of strength he has, and Beatrice spawning in crystals while holding onto Subaru, the final stretch was here.

"We're at a major disadvantage, without Nect we won't be able to see his hands!"  
"Subaru, we need help, I suppose!"

"Love! If you won't give me your love! I won't let anyone have your love!"

The cliff started to rumble, unseen hands were scraping it off, destroying a whole chunk, it all fell down towards everyone, "Murak, Beako use Murak now!" Subaru suddenly said, Beatrice's eyes narrow and she did as he said, standing in front of the two, she casted the spell, the huge falling rocks that were tumbling their way stopped midway, and floated back up.

"Julius, finish this!"  
"Indeed!"

Rushing over to Betelgeuse with his sword, he looks down at his enemy victoriously, "Like I said, with my sword, and with Subaru's eyes, we'll end your life, right here, right now!" And he stabs it, directly where his heart should be. He let out one last, blood-filled scream, before he stops, completely dead.

"He's dead, I suppose…"

With a moment silence, the wind blows in, the battle was finally over, they have won, "It's finally over…" Beatrice moves aside the floating boulders away from them and drops them off, falling down with a crash. Julius took his sword out of Betelgeuse, wiping off the blood from his blade.

"It seems this subjugation, was a success"

The three looked down, in reality, he was a confused man with an unrequited love for the witch, they almost felt bad for killing him, almost. Julius felt rather shaken, he didn't think something as heated as this would happen, though he isn't disappointed with the results. Beatrice on the other hand was quite refreshed, having got to used her spells after a long time. Subaru, he felt a strong urge of relief in his heart, and happiness, all this suffering was finally done, everyone was safe, no one died.

As the three was about to look away, Subaru took a glance at the madman's gospel, it seemed intact, with a little blood here and there. Crouching down to grab the book, he opened it up, all of it still gibberish, "Hmm, still can't read it" He muttered to himself, though Beatrice heard it.

"If your lucky, you might be able to read that soon… though, I'm not sure if that'd be luck or misfortune, I suppose…"  
"Heh? Wait, wait, what does that mean, Beako?! Is Betelgeuse still possessing me or something?"  
"You shouldn't worry about it for now, I suppose, no one is possessing you with Betty on guard…"

Leaving Subaru a little curious and worried about himself, Beatrice and Julius walk away, back to the village

* * *

 **A/N**

 **10.K word count! We finally did it! I'm proud of myself, I'm super proud, good job Review! Jolly good job!**

 **YOSH~ One more chapter then I can finally close the original and marvel at this rewrite! As you can see, there was a rather big change here, mostly cause the events of [Redacted] never happens, if your wondering what that was, it's not important at all.**

 **So changelog:**

 **1)Because the events of [Redacted] never happens, Subaru and Beatrice's conversation had been altered, with less crying from Beatrice's side and more begging from Subaru's side.  
** **2) During Subaru and Betelgeuse's chit chat, Subaru refers to himself as Pride unlike last time where he asked for a position as a finger  
** **3) The scene with Satella was skipped in the original so I decided to write it in here  
** **4) Subaru can use Minya right of the bat, like in the Web novel with him shouting "Visualise! Visualise~"**

 **The final chapter will be out sometime later, probably going to be out late as it always is...**


	9. Chapter 9: It ends with a Reunion

**Uploading date: 12/12/2019 [M/D/Y]**

 **Forgive Me [Arc 3] - Remade**

 **.**

 **Chapter 9: It ends with a reunion**

* * *

Right after finishing their battle with the cardinal of Sloth, Betelgeuse, the three headed back rather victorious. They make their way to the village and entered into one of the houses, inside, Felix was present.

"Haaah! Finally, after pulling out two all-nighters, we did it…" Subaru said as he slumped down his chair, rather exhausted. Felix was seated across him skimming through some papers while Beatrice stood beside him.

"Good job nya~"  
"Betty isn't sure what an 'all-nighter' is… but I suppose it means being nocturnal?"

"Hmm, half-correct, it means not sleeping in order to finish work that could have been otherwise, done in the day. It's something procrastinators do in order to make it through their deadlines"

With Julius sitting down as well, the room fell silent, only the ruffling of papers from Felix can be heard. Everything else was still, that is, until the door suddenly opened. "S-Sorry for breaking in when your all clearly exhausted… but we may have a small problem…" Otto said as he entered the room.

"A small problem… how small exactly?" Subaru asked worriedly. "Ah, well… it's a… not so small problem… id say it's a rather large problem, actually…" Otto replied hesitantly.

"What may the problem be?" Julius asked while getting up from his seat.

"While we were checking all the merchant's goods, we've found everything but one item..." Otto hung his head low, the others fearing the worst, "One of the merchants had brought a large number of fire gems with them, there's enough to blow up this whole village in an instant…"

Subaru's eyes widened as he shot up from his chair, "Beatrice, were going… now" Getting his cloak ready, Subaru rushed out the door, everyone else following closely behind.

.

"Which carriage is it?"

"It's most probably in Ketty's carriage -nya, his carriage... it's the one carrying the village's children, Emilia-sama and Rem-san..."

"Can't you give me a break for just one second?! I'm seriously running on the last bit of luck I have right now" Subaru said loudly, to no one in particular. "Where are they now, I suppose?"

"It hasn't been too long since they left so chances are they're still near, but Ferri-chan isn't sure a ground dragon would make it in time, once they reach the Lifuas Highway, it's pretty much 'Let's hope it doesn't detonate'"

"You've gotta be kidding me..."

Subaru tried to think of something, racking up all the brainpower he has left, Beatrice and Julius looked at him worriedly, but it seemed like Otto had something he wanted to say.

"Umm, Natsuki-san, we both seem to be in a desperate position, so if your okay wit-"

"I'll do anything! Just please tell me you can get us there in time!"

In return to Otto's sudden declaration of a deal, Subaru didn't hesitate to accept, though he did it rather forcefully, with all the shoulder grabbing and screaming that is.

"Ah... your quick thinking... is impressive Natsuki-san. Don't worry, I can guarantee that we reach them in time"

With Subaru bringing out Patrasche and Otto bringing his own ground dragon, they connected them to a singular carriage and Subaru hopped in with Beatrice.

"Ny'all better make it back ya hear? Oh, and try not to get yourself blown up nya~ It'll be problematic for Ferri-chan, you see"  
"Don't sweat it, I'll make sure that I'm the only one with scratches when we get back"  
"That just might be the only Knightley thing I've heard you say, Subaru"  
"Oh shut it, Julius, we don't have time for this"

"Heh…"

Julius himself didn't go on the carriage, as speed was of the utmost importance in this last-minute mission, having extra unneeded weight would only bring them down.

Subaru, Otto, and Beatrice were off in a flash, Julius and Ferrix waved them off, but they paid no heed, they had no time to, "Are you sure you shouldn't have gone with them -nya?" "Of course not, Emilia-sama is in danger… if there is someone who has to save her, it'd have to be Subaru, even if he may be rather foul-mouth and reckless, he's still got a man's pride, and he still sees himself as her knight, whether it may only be in name, a knight's job is to be there for their king…"

"You're all about those ethical things aren't nyou?"

"I've been raised as such, old habits die hard, as the saying goes"

* * *

Without any distractions, the three of them went straight for the roads, speeding through the forest. Through Otto's divine protection, the Divine Protection of Animal whispering, he was able to communicate to wildlife in the forest to help him, telling him the current location of the carriage, and giving him the fastest route to the carriage.

"Hey Otto, your Divine Protection, it's pretty useful, isn't it?"  
"Huh, you think so…? Well, I hadn't really any use of it besides having interesting conversations with animals..."

"I think it's less of the Divine Protection itself and more of your skill in applying it to the situation, that is where the usefulness of the Divine Protection shines, you're rather skilled in making something that should be useless into something worthwhile, I suppose…"

"Ahh, I feel like that's a little too much praise from the little girl…"  
"Which route are we taking exactly, Betty can't see any clearings nearby, I suppose, are you sure the animals aren't tricking you?! Also, refer to Betty as the 'Great Spirit', I'm not little girl, you know!"  
"I can assure you all, that this is the correct path, please hold on now, the ride is going to get bumpy"  
"I think it's plenty bumpy as it is now, just where the hell are you taking us, Otto!?"

Whipping the reins, he made the ground dragons sprint faster and faster, Subaru couldn't see where they were going due to the thick bushes but he had this eerily bad feeling about this,"Otto- Oi! Where the hell do you think you're going!?" "Hang on tight everyone!"

Without even a second of notice, they leaped straight off a steep cliff, "OTTOOOO!"

Right after that, they hurdled straight downwards. Beatrice clung to Subaru's waist while he grabbed the seat he was on and forced himself down, Otto was visibly floating above his seat as the carriage fell down.

"You're trying to kill us, I suppose!"  
"Please, hang on for a little longer!"

After surviving the painfully vertical drop, they rushed over an old rustic wooden bridge, before they could even make it halfway, the rope had snapped.

"Betty is going to die of shock at this rate, Subaru, do something, I suppose!"  
"What do you want me to do, fly?! Man is not capable of that just yet!"

They barely made it alive. Otto was shaking vigorously, "I didn't even know I can do this...!"

.

After many more terrifying paths, they finally exited the forest. Beatrice and Subaru breathed out a sigh of relief as they looked outside, they saw Wilhelm, several others with him, fending off as many Witch Cultists as they can.

They looked further and they saw the carriages that housed the evacuees.

"Otto, they're over there! We have to be quick, put the pedal to the metal!"  
"I'm unsure what that phrase means Natsuki-san, but alright!"

Otto whips the reins firmly and the ground dragons sped up, they zoomed past several cultists, running some over. Noticing the speeding carriage some tried to follow in pursuit, "Hey Beako, do you mind if I..." "Go ahead, I suppose" She gripped his hand tightly

Feeling the small slender hands on his own gave him confidence, and power.

"Minya!"

A singular dark purple shard formed on his hand and it burst forward, ripping through the air with a screech. The cultist was in the middle of a fireball chant and the two spells collided, an explosion ensued and the cultist was burned to ashes.

"This is hard… It's easier just screaming 'Visualise~' and stuff..."

As Subaru commented on that, Beatrice was forming shards of her own and effortlessly too, the skill gap between them is as clear as night and day. One by one she shot, they all start going down the moment they face them. Before they knew it they were close enough to the last carriage that they could possibly call them, but that would give away the facade they had.

"Beako, you know any spells that slows them down? Or something that can make them stop, cause that'd be very useful right now"  
"Of course I do, don't ever doubt a great spirit, I suppose"

She went to the front of the carriage where Otto was and stretched out her hand, aiming her palm at the group in front of her, and she chanted...

"Lahm!"

An eerie sound could be heard and a dark shadow like substance had formed under the carriages, almost instantaneously they're speed has halved. They were able to catch up to them now in the blink of an eye.

"Beako, cloak, and under no circumstances will you take it off!"  
"Understood, I suppose"

They had almost reached the front carriage but they're speed wasn't satisfactory enough. Subaru had told Otto to disconnect Patrasche from the carriage and had hopped straight onto her. The carriages had now completely stopped, Subaru put Emilia's cloak on and rushed for the front carriage. Before he reached it he heard something.

"We made a promise not to let you worry!"  
"Worry? Promise? With who"  
"Subaru!"

He stopped for a moment, and froze, then his face grinned. He continued running and he jumped into the carriage, "You kids are really bad at keeping promises... kinda like me, hehe"

He glances through all of them, the kids, Emilia, and Rem, soon after Puck materializes and gives him a suspicious look, "You're…" Rem and Emilia were about to speak but a sudden rustle from behind had caught their attention, all the other kids were trying to silence one child who seemed to want to say something.

After chuckling at it for a bit, Subaru's glance suddenly turned serious, Rem felt a change in the air and went back in a defensive stance.

Subaru scanned the wooden flooring, and felt some heat emanating from a certain spot, and with his hands plastered onto it, he chants "Visualise... Minya!" A blast of shards ripped off the wood paneling from the carriage floor, and down there a bag glowing a faint red had caught everyone's attention.

"That's-!"

Without a moment to waste, he dug into the wooden planks and lifted up a sack, small puffs of smoke could already be seen, he's cutting it really close here. "So that's why you're here!" Puck said. Subaru, not wasting a second jumped out of the carriage. Rem being the first to grasp the situation tries to rush over to him, she reaches the back of the carriage and calls out.

"Wait!"

Subaru had already mounted Patrasche, a small figure sat in front of him, ready to go at a moments notice, before they were about to leave, he turns to see Rem, her eyes were wavering at him. "Thank you," He says, as he dashes forward into the remains of the White Whale.

"Shit, can we make it?"  
"It's going to be a close one, I suppose…"

He was able to reach the carcass of the whale with Patarasche's help. The sac was now glowing red hot and burn marks can be seen, the smoking also seems to have intensified heavily. It's about to blow any second now.

"Kick it, Patrasche!"

The ground dragon flung her body to the other direction, having little concern for the comfort of the passengers prioritizing getting distance above all else.

A few moments later, they heard an explosion, a blast of wind threw them off the ground dragon. Subaru reacted quickly grabbing onto Beatrice as they make roll down the solid grassy field. Patarasche was able to roll on the ground, but an inferno was headed their way from the blast.

Beatrice spent no time in deploying out a defense mechanism, "Kardese!" A solid purple bubble had enveloped the three as the fire and smoke surrounds them, but Subaru sees cracks forming all over, she cast it too late, and it's breaking apart quickly.

But there was nothing he could do, so he watched and watched as it peeled off slowly, and once it broke down, he grabbed her by the waist and sprung back to his ground dragon as it curled up into a ball, protecting them from the inferno. The rising mushroom cloud that had resulted from the gems were sent blasting back up to the atmosphere...

The onlookers stared at the large phenomena, their hearts shaking at the sight of something so large and so close to them, if the hooded person had not been there to get the time bomb away, the whole line of carriages would have been blown to smithereens, Emilia thought silently, "Is he okay!" She asked one of the men, Otto.

* * *

"I-I'm not sure, they looked pretty close to the blast radius but the flames didn't go past their location, they may have been able to defend against it somehow…" Otto removes the linkage between the carriage and his dragon and sets off into the smoke in search of Subaru, "Wait, please! Bring me with you"

With such a determined look on her face, Otto had to comply, there was nothing he could do when faced with such strong emotions.

"Are you okay!"

They shouted into the smokescreen, visibility was near zero but there was nothing they could do but push forward to their last seen location, and from the rising ashes, Emilia's elven ears picked up a sound, a voice, a familiar one.

"Shit… to think it'd end right here, when I was so close…"

Her hands quivered as she heard that voice, that voice, it was, "S-Subaru?" She got off Otto's ground dragon, and rushed to wherever she heard his voice, but the smoke truly is making it hard, "After all I did… it still wasn't enough, I guess we part ways here…"

"No…"

Pinpointing his exact location, Emilia brushes through the smoke, further and further, until it all disappears, "Subaru!" Breaking through to a clearing, she sees Subaru standing upright with a cloak burning up in his hands. "Heh…" Letting the cloak float up, he takes in a deep breath. "You!"

Turning around and pointing a finger at Emilia, he stares down at her amethyst eyes and asks, "I just saved your life, so am I not entitled to a reward!" Taking Emilia by surprise, he shoots her a smile, "Uh- ah, y-yes? But…" "Then, I ask you, drop the sad face… and smile for me, please"

A moment of confusion arose in Emilia's head, this moment felt so similar to the first time they meant, no, it was near identical wasn't it? After getting her senses back, she starts laughing, "Heh… Heheheh…" With her giggling starting to build up, she brought her hand up to her mouth to suppress it but it does not good.

Subaru smiles at her, but she suddenly runs up to him, and embraces him, "E-Ehhhh, Emilia-tan, I only asked for a smile ya know?! I think this may be a little too much for me, too much stimulation-" With head on his chest she starts saying, "You're always like this aren't you Subaru… doing things recklessly, and then appearing out of nowhere to save the day, every single time…"

"...Yeah… I promise I'd be there for you didn't I?"  
"Yes, yes you did… but…"

She releases him and looks at him right in the eyes, "Why… why do this for someone like me? For someone who's always relying on you, don't you find that annoying?" "Nothings annoying when you're involved Emilia, cause you're someone I treasure deeply, someone I look up to, someone I love…"

"Subaru…"  
"EmiliaaAAHHH!"

A stinging pain across his cheeks as Emilia started pulling onto it with all her might, "You made me worry, you made Ram worry, and you even made Rem cry, you should be more mindful of the people around you Subaru" "G-Gh, my confession had no effect! Impossible levels of denseness have been reached! Ouch, Emilia-tan that really hurts so if you could please…"

After being satisfied with the reddening of his skin, she lets him go and breathes out a sigh of relief, "Haah…" "Sorry, I'll be sure to inform you about things in advance…" Nodding, as if winning a negotiation she replies with "Good"

"Uuuh… Natsuki- _cough_ san, sorry to intrude but we're going to suffocate in the smoke if we don't get out of here…"  
"Otto? Way to ruin the mood, I was finally gonna go through her head ya know?"  
"I think you should value your health more than the mood, Natsuki-san!"

He says that as smoke starts to cover up his face, making him disappear once again into the abyssal darkness, "Why'd you come here even? Are you worried about my safety or something?" "Don't think I'd let you die so easily, you have yet to fulfill your side of the deal!"

"Ah, yeah, there's that too I guess... but man you merchants really do only care about money!"  
"Does that even matter now!?"

"Speaking of which, isn't Betty supposed to take priority right now, I suppose? Have you already forgotten about me!" another voice erupted in between them.

"Ah, sorry about that Beako, kinda got caught up in the moment…" Picking up the tired Beatrice from the ground in a princess style carry, he along with Patrasche and Emilia, though Emilia was immediately shocked, "E-Eh? Beatrice is here? Where did she come from all of a sudden!"

"Long story, but she's my contracted spirit now is the gist of what happened"  
"What? But how? Isn't she the guardian of the library? Also when? And why?"

"Too many questions from you girl! And Subaru, go faster, I suppose, the smoke is making Betty's eyes sore you know!"

* * *

With the group returning back from the dissipating ashes, they were greeted by a worried Rem who has, after glancing at them, now gleefully joyed, "Hmph, I can walk from here, I suppose…" says Beatrice as she forced herself off of Subaru's arms, "I'm only giving him to you this once so be grateful, I suppose" she says to the blue-haired maid, in a rather condescending tone.

"...Pardon?" Rem replies, rather astonished to see that Beatrice was here.

"My, my, I've got myself a rather high maintenance spirit now don't I?"  
"Of course, I did tell you, Betty isn't some second-rate spirit that can be pleased just by your presence"

"There's going to be a bumpy road ahead of my life, I can already feel it…" Subaru walked forward behind Beatrice but stopped by Rem, the others walking on forward, "We'll leave you two alone for a while" Emilia said as she gave Subaru a nice smack on the back, quite uncharacteristic of her, it seems she can read the atmosphere at least.

Finally alone with no one within earshot, the two faced each other, "Yo, Re-" "So you decided to return, Subaru-kun?" Rem got straight to the point, and with a sharp tongue nonetheless, "Y-Yes… despite what I said, it seems like I'll be returning back anyway…" With Subaru rubbing the back of his head awkwardly Rem stared at him relentlessly, with eyes that can be mistaken for a beasts.

"Rem… is glad, Subaru-kun…"  
"...Yeah, it's all thanks to you Rem…"

Even now, looking at her still brings back bad memories, traumatic ones, but unlike last time, there's no need to worry anymore, everything's been taken care of, everyone's been saved.

"..."  
"..."

"Rem…"  
"Yes, Subaru-kun…"

"About what you said back then… back in those old ruins in the capital…" Glancing towards her, he looks at her eyes, and she just nods, "..." not saying a word, as if signaling to him that she'll listen to everything he has to say, "Even when I didn't believe in myself, you believed in me, and the words you said, they really got me you know?"

"Hm"

"Looking back, I really wished I'd handled it better, I'm sorry for worrying you, I'm sorry for yelling at you, I've showed you a terribly hideous side of me. But even then, you still helped me and picked me up, honestly, everything here, couldn't have been done without your help from back then…"

"Rem is glad to hear, Subaru-kun…"

"I know you've poured all you're heart into it, b-but… even then, I'm… I'm…"  
"That's no good, Subaru-kun… it won't work if you don't say it directly…"

"...That's really unfair you know? For the both of us…" Knowing full well what he means Rem's just smiles, and tells him, "The world isn't made fair Subaru-kun, both you, and Rem know that right?" With that sentence steeling his nerves he breathes in.

"If you say so…"

"I love you, Subaru-kun"

"Thank you, thank you so much… Rem, those words, and the words you told me before, they helped me build the courage to be here, to accomplish all this… but even then, I won't be able to return those feelings!"

"Hm, Rem knows, the one Subaru-kun truly loves is Emilia-sama, coincidentally, the Subaru-kun that Rem loves is the Subaru-kun that loves Emilia-sama, unfair as that may be to Rem, as envious as Rem may be... all that Rem can do is accept it…"

"Are you really fine with that… isn't it painful? Even after everything you put into me"

"Of course it is… but compared to the pain Subaru-kun has experienced, Rem's pain can't possibly compare. So Rem is glad, as long as Rem can be by your side, to help you when you need Rem, to have fun with you when we're free, to cry with you when we're at a loss, to fight alongside you when a threat looms, as long as Rem can do that, Rem is satisfied…"

"..."

"Even when you think badly of yourself, even if everyone else belittles you, just know that Rem is there for you… the world may abandon you, but Rem will not, so please stay the same Subaru-kun you've always been ok?"

"Hkk…" Even though she shouldn't know of the pain he's felt, just the coincidence of her mentioning something like made Subaru feel like he was no longer alone, knowing that someone out there has acknowledged the excruciating pain he had gone through, had realised something so subtle as that, it had shook his heart beyond compare.

He starts tearing up and sobbing, bringing up his sleeves to his sniveling his nose, he tries to wipe it all down, "Hmph, Subaru-kun, shouldn't Rem be the one crying here?" "I know… but I can't help it…" Having so much kindness and support showered down on him, he seriously can't help it, so he just hugged her.

"No matter what, I'll make sure you're always by my side Rem, I promise it!"  
"...Nh, Rem would love that…"

Simply returning the embrace with her own, the two share a warm time together before letting each other go.

"..."  
"..."

They both face back to where everyone else was, and smiled at each other, "Seriously… if I that had gone even a little longer, I may have fallen for another one…" With that phrase entering Rem's ears, she can't help but cheekily comment, "Rem wouldn't dislike such a development to happen, perhaps Rem shall capture Subaru-kun in another embrace"

"Why you little devil… Has Nee-sama's attitude finally rubbed into you!" Subaru replied jokingly, while roughly patting her head. "Does Subaru-kun dislike it?"

"No, you can be whatever you wanna be, as long as you're by my side, that's enough, right?"  
"That's correct, indeed…"  
"Well then enough of that, lets get back to everyone…"

And with that they walked over to the encirclement of people in front of them, with the sun still rising up by them...

[To be Continued in: Warlock of Sin]

* * *

A/N

"The final chapter will be out sometime later, probably going to be out late as it always is…"

Was what I said last chapter and well, I didn't exactly lie? BUT HOLY DAMN 1 YEAR JUST PASSED BY DIDN'T IT! By leaving the original available to read, I felt less of a need to complete this and continue on with the other stories, but it was just me being me again… as always…

OK, so with the story finally finishing I can make my announcement now, Warlock is currently stuck with incomplete and weird plot holes that I plan on fixing, and this time, the right way.

As for why I've been gone for quiiiite a while, ive been university hunting! I'm about to turn into an independent adult soon, can't be wasting my time doing nothing, now can I?


End file.
